1. SylabUZ
2. Faculty of Humanities
3. winter term 2024/2025
4. WH - oferta ERASMUS / Philosophy - First-cycle Erasmus programme
5. Introduction to Western Philosophy

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Introduction to Western Philosophy - course description

Aim of the course

Introduction to the philosophical ideas developed by thinkers related to the development of Western philosophy.

Prerequisites

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none

Scope

This course aim is to introduce the most fundamental contributions to Western philosophy made by thinkers over the centuries. The time span stretches from the sixth century BC to the first half of the last century. The philosophers covered include: pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, William of Ockham, St. Anselm, St. Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, N. Machiavelli, Erasmus, Thomas More, Thomas Hobbes, R. Descartes, B. Pascal, B. Spinoza, John Locke, George Berkeley, J. J. Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, G. W. Hegel, S. Kierkegaard, , K. Marx, L. Wittgenstein, B. Russell, M. Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Karl Popper and C. Levi-Strauss.

Teaching methods

Each meeting comprises the following parts:

1. A general description of a given philosopher or a philosophical system related to the reading assignment for the current meeting.

2. A presentation given by selected students describing the reading assignment for the current meeting.

3. A discussion of the ideas presented in 1., 2. and in the reading assignment.

4. A reading assignment for the next meeting. This will be a text representative of a given philosophical system or a specific philosopher.

Learning outcomes and methods of theirs verification

Outcome description	Outcome symbols	Methods of verification	The class form

Assignment conditions

LEARNING OUTCOMES VERIFICATION AND assessment criteria:

Students will be evaluated in relation to each of the parts 1.-4. as follows:

 

1. General knowledge of the presented philosophical systems (a test at the end of the term).

2. Student contribution to the preparation of the assigned presentation (evaluation during presentation).

3. Activity during discussion (evaluation during discussion).

4. Knowledge of the assigned reading (evaluation during meetings).

 

The final grade is a weighted sum of the above partial grades.

Recommended reading

Recommended reading:

1. Kenny, A New History of Western Philosophy, Oxford University Press 2011.

2. The Problems of Philosophy, B. Russell, various editions

3. Plato, Symposium

4. Aristotle, Metaphysics

5. R. Bacon, On Experimental Science

6. Erasmus, The Praise of Folly

7. F. Bacon, Novum Organum Scientarum

8. Thomas More,Utopia

9. R. Descartes, Discourse on the Method

10. F. Nietzsche, Thus Spake Zarathustra

11. D. Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature

12. J. J. Rousseau, The Social Contract

13. I. Kant, Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

14. K. Marx, F. Engels, Communist Manifesto

15. K. Popper, Logic of Scientific Discovery

Further reading

Notes

Modified by dr Paweł Walczak, prof. UZ (last modification: 10-12-2024 13:18)