Ontology Themes - 2nd semester
Code
711031077
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Filosofia
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Mário Jorge Carvalho
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
Objectives:
Acquire increased proficiency in:
a) understanding the meaning and specificity of Ontology as a major component of philosophical tradition and a current field of research;
b) understanding why Ontology is the sought after science (zêtoumenê epistêmê);
c) understanding the interlinking between Ontology and the other branches of philosophy;
d) understanding the interlinking between Ontology and the various branches of science;
e) understanding the various approaches that have been taken in trying to provide an answer to ontological questions and to reach the zêtoumenê êpistemê;
f) understanding that the zêtoumenê epistêmê may perhaps remain out of reach;
g) understanding the most important ontological concepts;
h) understanding, comparing and using these concepts critically and independently;
i) independently interpreting and discussing doctrinal views in this research field;
Prerequisites
Not applicable
Subject matter
Reality and Resistance – a philosophical “journey of exploration”
An important strand of ontological thinking (Fichte, Bouterwek, Cabanis, Maine de Biran, Destutt de Tracy, Dilthey, Frischeisen-Köhler, Jaensch, Scheler, Husserl, and Heidegger, just to name the most prominent exponents) highlights the connection between resistance and reality and discusses the role played by the former as a possible key for the latter (and in some cases not just for what tradition terms existentia/Wirklichkeit but also for essentia/Wesen).
But on closer inspection it emerges that the various philosophical investigations in question give very different accounts of what both resistance and reality are all about: under the cloak of a “common denominator” (resistance as a possible key to understanding reality) hide very widely divergent views.
Our task is to carry out a “reconnaissance raid”: to explore this philosophical maze and to find an Ariadne’s thread to guide us through its meandering paths.
Bibliography
Cabanis, P. J. G. (1802). Rapports du physique et du moral de l’homme. Paris
Bouterwek, F. (1799). Idee einer Apodiktik. Ein Beytrag zur menschlichen Selbstverständigung und zur Entscheidung des Streits über Metaphysik, kritische Philosophie und Skeptizismus. Halle.
Destutt de Tracy, M. (1970). Éléments d’idéologie. 1re. Partie: Idéologie proprement dite. Paris.
Dilthey, W. (1914–2006). Gesammelte Schriften. Göttingen.
Fichte, J. G. (1971). Sämtliche Werke. Berlin.
Fichte, J. G. (1964-2012). Gesamtausgabe der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt.
Frischeisen-Köhler, M. (1912). Wissenschaft und Wirklichkeit. Leipzig/Berlin.
Heidegger, M. (1975-). Gesamtausgabe. Frankfurt a. M.
Jaensch, E. R. (1911). Über die Wahrnehmung des Raumes. Eine experimentell-psychologische Untersuchung nebst Anwendung auf Ästhetik und Erkenntnislehre. Leipzig.
Maine de Biran, P. (1984-). Œuvres de Maine de Biran. Paris.
Scheler, M. (1971-1997). Gesammelte Werke. Bonn.
Teaching method
This curricular unit has a theoretical-practical character.
The teaching methodology combines:
a) the theoretical analysis of philosophical problems and concepts
b) a thorough interpretation of the philosophical texts in question (with special emphasis both on their connection with the problems and concepts under discussion, and on interpretive issues, etc.)
and
c) the discussion of alternative views, objections, counterexamples, etc.
This curricular unit is designed to give participants the experience of working, as it were, in the “laboratory” of philosophical thought. Particular emphasis is also put on the discussion of questions, objections, related issues, etc. during office hours.
Evaluation method
Individual evaluation. Obligatory written exam (2/3). Each student will have to present a written work on an approved topic and discuss it with the lecturer (1/3).