Early Modern Philosophy - 1st semester
Code
711031061
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Filosofia
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Marta Mendonça
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
a) Acquire a basic knowledge of the most important figures in Western philosophical thinking in modern times and of some of their texts.
b) Identify the most significant philosophical issues in modern European thinking and describe them precisely.
c) Acquire a basic ability to place concepts, methodological ideas and doctrinal positions in the historical context to which they belong.
d) Acquire an ability to identify the distinctive features of European philosophy in the modern age from both a methodological and thematic point of view.
e) Acquire an ability to identify and describe the elements representing continuity or rupture in the formulation of philosophical questions and in the suggestions for solving them.
f) Acquire an ability to read and interpret some of the fundamental texts from the modern age.
g) Comprehend the importance of studying modern philosophy for understanding some current philosophical questions.
Prerequisites
None
Subject matter
The mind-body problem in Early Modern Philosophy
Early modern philosophy is generally characterized as anthropocentric. Man is not only an important theme of philosophical reflection, he is also the place where this reflection occurs and a decisive and determinant factor of its result; Moreover, mind is more immediately accessible and therefore better known than the extra-mental world.
Despite this, human reality presents itself as extremely enigmatic; among the expressions of this enigma, dualism stands out. How to think human reality? Is it possible to think about the human being as a unitary reality? How does it fit into the natural world? How to think the relationship between the corporeal dimension of the human being and his mental activity? How do these two dimensions affect each other?
The course will consider how the main figures of the early modern period understood the unity of the human being and the mind-body relationship. Considering this topic, it will be possible to address nuclear questions of the ontology and epistemology of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
Bibliography
DESCARTES, Oeuvres Complètes. 11 vols. Publiées par Charles Adam et Adam Tannery. Édition du Jubilé. Paris : Vrin, 1996.
HUME, The Philosophical Works. 4 vols. Aalen: Scientia Verlag, 1964.
KANT, The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Immanuel Kant. Ed. by Paul Guyer and Allen Wood, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995 -.
LEIBNIZ, Die philosophischen Schriften. 7 vols. Hrsg. Von K. I. Gerhardt, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, l965.
LOCKE, The Works of John Locke. 9 vols. London: Routledge/Thoemmes Press, 1997.
MALEBRANCHE, (1958–84). Œuvres complètes de Malebranche. 20 vols. Editées par André Robinet. Paris: Vrin, 1958-1984.
Teaching method
The course will have a double explanatory and hands-on approach. There will be theoretical classes, designed to introduce and frame the ideas of several philosophers, as well as to formulate and expand the problems under review; and classes more focused on the analysis and discussion of the literature. Students will have access to the texts to be discussed and should prepare them before class.
In class teaching
Evaluation method
Two written tests, one at the middle (30%) and the other at the end of the semester (60%). Oral participation in class (10%).