General Information 2019-2020 - Master in Modern and Contemporary European Philosophy
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Master in Modern and Contemporary European Philosophy - General Information 2019-2020
Table of Contents Welcome Address ....................................................................................................................... 3 Teaching Staff ............................................................................................................................. 4 Modules and ECTS ..................................................................................................................... 5 Semestral Overview .................................................................................................................... 6 Further Information and Contact Details ...................................................................................... 7 8 Teaching Schedule and Course Descriptions ......................... 8Fehler! Textmarke nicht definiert. 2
Welcome Address Dear students, we would like to welcome you to the academic year 2019-2020 and to the nineth edition of our Master in Modern and Contemporary European Philosophy! As you know, the focus of the program is European philosophy from the early modern period to the present day. The Master is especially designed for international students who have a special interest and who aim for a first class education in modern and contemporary European philosophy. The program offers an in depth study of European philosophy beginning with classical rationalism and empiricism, moving on to Kant and German Idealism, and concluding with 20th century and contemporary philosophy. Our Master is unique since it not only covers the development of European thought from the early moderns to contemporary philosophy. It also includes credited language courses that give students the opportunity to improve on their knowledge of French and/or German, it offers credited internships that connect students with the job market, and finally it includes interdisciplinary course options in other disciplines like history, politics, or literature. We are convinced that the structure and content of our program prepare students in a particularly good manner for either pursuing doctoral studies in philosophy, or for their future career in non-academic fields. Let us finally draw your attention to the departmental website: http://philosophie.uni.lu where you can find useful information concerning teaching and research as well as news about upcoming events like conferences, workshops, colloquia etc. We usually have three guest lectures per semester by internationally renowned scholars. Guest lectures take place on Mondays at 5:30 pm. Please check our website for announcements of the talks. Already at this point we would like to announce the following upcoming events: - Guest lectures: November 25: Professor Dr. Markus Kohl (Chapel Hill), tba December 09: Professor Dr. Frédéric Seyler (DePaul University), Democracy and Religion in Michel Henry's Phenomenology - Workshop: November 26-27 – Concept and Intuition in Kant and Hegel (Please note that there will be more guest lectures and conferences, tba) Have a good start into the academic year 2019-2020, Yours, Dietmar Heidemann (study director) & Frank Hofmann (deputy study director) 3
Teaching Staff Name Course Semester Christoph Fehige Empiricism Winter 2019 Kant Winter 2019 Dietmar Heidemann Rationalism Winter 2019 Contemporary European Philosophy I Winter 2019 Frank Hofmann Contemporary European Philosophy II Winter 2019 Master Colloquium (b) Winter 2019 German Idealism I Winter 2019 Lukas Sosoe Philosophy of Law* Winter 2019 Nietzsche/Philosophy of Arnaud Dewalque Existence/Hermeneutics: Continental Winter 2019 Philosophy * Optional course/elective, not mandatory. 4
Modules and ECTS Module 1 Module 2 Early modern European philosophy Kant and German Idealism - Seminar 1 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 1 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 2 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 2 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 3 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 3 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 4 (5 ECTS) ECTS: 15 ECTS: 20 Module 3 Module 4 20th century and contemporary European Master module philosophy - Master colloquium 1 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 1 (5 ECTS) - Master colloquium 2 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 2 (5 ECTS) - Master colloquium 3 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 3 (5 ECTS) - Seminar 4 (5 ECTS) - Defence of the master thesis (5 ECTS) ECTS: 20 ECTS: 20 Module 5 Module 6 Electives Master thesis (30ECTS) - Internship (5 ECTS) - language course (5 ECTS) - Interdisciplinary course (5 ECTS) ECTS: 15 ECTS: 30 Σ = 120 ECTS 5
Semestral Overview Module 1 Module 2 Module 3 Module 4 Module 5 No. of courses Early modern Kant and German 20th century and Master Electives European Idealism contemporary module philosophy European philosophy SEMESTER 1 § Rationalism § Kant § Contemporary § language European course: French § Empiricism § German philosophy I or German Idealism I § Nietzsche/ 7 Philosophy of Existence/ Hermeneutics SEMESTER 2 § Philosophy § Transcendental § Phenomenology Master § Interdisciplinary of philosophy colloquium course Enlighten- (a) ment § German 6 Idealism II SEMESTER 3 § Rationalism § German § Contemporary Master § Internship (cf. semester 1) Idealism I European colloquium (cf. semester 1) philosophy I (b) § Empiricism (cf. semester 1) 2 (cf. semester 1) plus § Contemporary internship European philosophy II SEMESTER 4 § German § Phenomenology Master Idealism II (cf. semester 2) colloquium 1 (cf. semester 2) (c) Σ courses per module Σ 16 2 courses courses 3 courses 4 courses 4 courses 3 courses plus internship plus internship 6
Further Information and Contact Details Entry • A Bachelor‘s degree or equivalent (at least 180 ECTS) in philosophy requirements • Students from interdisciplinary degree courses such as economics, literature, politics, sociology, etc. may be accepted Enrolment http://wwwen.uni.lu/etudiants/inscriptions_reinscriptions Further www.uni.lu/studies/flshase/master_in_modern_and_contemporary_european information _philosophy_academique and http://philosophie.uni.lu Contact Prof. Dr. Dietmar Heidemann Sven Seidenthal (Study director) (Assistant) dietmar.heidemann@uni.lu sven.seidenthal@uni.lu Prof. Dr. Lukas Sosoe Deven Burks (Faculty member) (Assistant) lukas.sosoe@uni.lu deven.burks@uni.lu Prof. Dr. Frank Hofmann Hannes Fraissler (Deputy study director) (Assistant) frank.hofmann@uni.lu hannes.fraissler@uni.lu Prof. Dr. Jennifer Pavlik Pedro Mendes (Faculty Member) (Office) jennifer.pavlik@uni.lu T. +352 / 46 66 44 9617 pedro.mendes@uni.lu 7
Master in Modern and Contemporary European Philosophy Teaching schedule 2019-2020 Semester 1 – Winter 2019 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 8.00 - 9.30 9.45 - Rationalism Philosophy of Law 11.15 (M1) Sosoe Dietmar Heidemann (optional/elective) 11.30 Nietzsche/Philosophy of - Contemporary European Kant (M2) Existence/Hermeneutics: 13.00 Philosophy I (M3) Heidemann Continental Philosophy Hofmann (M3) A. Dewalque break break break break break break 13.15 14:00-17:15 - Empiricism: 14.45 Feelings as the Building Blocks of Morality? (M1) Fehige* 15.00 - Empiricism: Feelings as the German Idealism I (M2) 16.30 Building Blocks of Sosoe Morality? (M1) Fehige* 16.45 – 18.15 Empiricism: Feelings as the Building Blocks of Morality? (M1) Fehige* * Oct 7, 14, 21, Nov 11, 25, Dec 2 and 16
Master in Modern and Contemporary European Philosophy Teaching schedule 2019-2020 Semester 3 - Winter 2019 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday 8.00 - 9.30 9.45 - Rationalism (M1) Philosophy of Law 11.15 Dietmar Heidemann Sosoe (optional/elective) 11.30 Contemporary European - Philosophy I 13.00 (M3) Hofmann break break break break break break 13.15 - Contemporary European 14.45 Philosophy II (M3) Hofmann 15.00 - German Idealism I (M2) 16.30 Sosoe 16.45 – 17.30 – 19.00 18.15 Master Colloquium (b) (M4) Hofmann
Contemporary European Philosophy I - Knowledge Module 3 ECTS 5 Instructor Frank Hofmann Learning goals The students work on an advanced topic in contemporary philosophy. They acquire the relevant concepts and conceptual distinctions, come to know the most important approaches, and try to critically assess the views and arguments put forward by prominent authors. A systematic and theoretical understanding of epistemological phenomena is the central goal. Course description The simple starting point for our studies is the question: What is knowledge? More recently, within the post-Gettier discussion, it has been emphasized that a theory of knowledge must preserve the intuition that knowledge is more valuable than merely true belief. This is known as the so-called ‘value problem’. So the question can be put in the following way: What is knowledge such that it is more valuable than merely true belief? – An interesting approach has been proposed by Ernest Sosa and John Greco, within the framework of so-called virtue epistemology. According to this proposal, knowledge is of special epistemic value since it involves the exercizing of an epistemic competence (epistemic ‘virtue’). We would like to study the value problem and, in particular, the solution(s) provided by (various versions of) virtue epistemology. Epistemic normativity will take center stage. Hybrid views, like Duncan Pritchard ‘anti-luck virtue epistemology’, combining the virtue idea with other ideas, will be studied. Finally, Williamson’s ‘Knowledge-First’ view will be discussed. Course type Seminar Bibliography Pritchard, D., What is this thing called knowledge?, Routledge, 2006. Greco, J., Achieving Knowledge, Cambridge University Press, 2010. Sosa, E., A Virtue Epistemology, Vol. I, Oxford University Press, 2009. Pritchard, D., Anti-luck virtue epistemology, Journal of Philosophy 109:3, 247-49, 2012. Williamson, T., Knowledge and Its Limits, Oxford University Press, 2000. (Further references will be provided in the run of the seminar.) Assessment (1.) Final paper (ca. 3000 words) and (2.) presentation or mini essay (ca. 800 words). Time Monday, 11.30-13.00
Empiricism: Feelings as the Building Blocks of Morality? Module 1 ECTS 5 Instructor Christoph Fehige Learning goals When thinkers of the eighteenth century emphasized the role of experience in many areas of human life and thought, morality was included. The essence and foundations of morality, it was claimed, lie in the fact that we experience actions or attitudes as good or evil, right or wrong, virtuous or vicious, and that we do so by a special sense – a moral sense that delivers moral sentiments. Claims of that kind constitute the practical, or moral, part of empiricism. Some of them continue to loom large in contemporary moral philosophy. At the end of this course, you should know and understand the basic features of the sentimentalist approach to ethics. You should be able to articulate the major pros and cons both of the approach as such and of competing options within the approach; you should be able to relate the 18th-century discussion to current thoughts in philosophical ethics. Course description We will make parts of the journey on our own, thinking without texts, but central passages of various texts, old and new, will also be processed. Hume’s moral philosophy in its earliest form, as set out by him in his Treatise, will play a significant role, especially, from Book 3 (»Of Morals«) of the Treatise: part 1, sec. 2, and part 3, sec. 1. Typically, the task from one session to the next will be to read and condense a portion of text and prepare answers to questions; the sessions themselves will typically be centred around your summaries and answers. Please attend this course only if you are willing to prepare answers to questions from each session to the next and to present, in every session, your answers in class. That’s how this course works. Course type Seminar Bibliography You are not required to track down books or articles for this course because you will be provided with pdf files of the excerpts that we will plough through. However, as always, reading more is instructive. Simon Blackburn, Ruling Passions, Oxford 1998. C. D. Broad, “Some Reflections on Moral-Sense Theories in Ethics”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, New Series, 45 (1944–45). David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739/40), ed. by David Fate Norton and Mary J. Norton, Oxford 2000 (in the series Oxford Philosophical Texts: The Complete Editions for Students); not to be confused with (volume 1 or both volumes of) the same two people’s (!) edition of the same work (!), the Treatise, for another series, the Clarendon Hume Edition Series. David Hume, An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals (1751), ed. by Tom L. Beauchamp, Oxford 1998 (in the series Oxford Philosophical Texts: The Complete Editions for Students). Franics Hutcheson, An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue (first ed. in 1725), third ed., London 1729. ––––, An Essay on the ature and Conduct of the Passions and Affections: With Illustrations on the Moral Sense, London 1728. J. L. Mackie, Hume’s Moral Theory, Routledge, London 1980. Elijah Millgram, “Moral Values and Secondary Qualities”, American Philosophical Quarterly 36 (1999). Exam A written exam, in English, on Mon 16 Dec., approx. 14:00–17:15; details to be announced. Moodle Course ID MA-PHILO-M1-102 Time The course will take place (with a 15-minute break) from 14:00 to 17:15 on the following seven Mondays: 7, 14, 21 October; 11, 25 November; 2, 16 December. The written exam will be in the final session, on 16 December. The first session, on 7 October, will not just be a logistical quickie; we’ll do the full 180 minutes.
Master Colloquium (b) Module 4 ECTS 5 Instructor Frank Hofmann Learning goals The focus of the Master Colloquium is on presentation and critical discussion. The students will receive valuable feedback that helps to improve their know-how and abilities to design and write a longer paper or thesis on a relevant topic. A superordinate aim is to prepare the students for their master thesis. The students will be assisted in their efforts to choose suitable topics and then to work on them. Some major publications that are highly relevant to current debates will be discussed in order to get to know the current state of the art. Course description In the Master Colloquium, students give presentations on their own work, or discuss recent publications (relevant papers, books/book chapters, etc.). The topic for these recent publications will be contemporary accounts of freedom and responsibility (mostly in the practical/moral case, but possibly also in the epistemic case, depending on the students preferences). In The role of reactive attitudes (P. Strawson), control (Fisher, Ravizza), and will and autonomy (Frankfurt) will be studied in order to see how freedom and responsibility could arise. The relevant ideas of determinism, fatalism, and having the ability to do/act otherwise will be discussed. Course type Seminar Bibliography Relevant readings will be assigned in the seminar. Assessment Presentation and discussion of research projects. (Ungraded) Time Monday, 17.30-19.00
Rationalism: Knowledge and Intuition Module 1 ECTS 5 Instructor Dietmar Heidemann Learning objectives Students read with comprehension and interpret central texts by Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz on the nature of intuition and intuitive knowledge. They analyze and reconstruct these texts, identify and evaluate its problems and develop solutions to these problems. Moreover, students make systematic connections between early modern conceptions of intuition and recent developments in contemporary philosophy. Course description “Intuition” is a key philosophical concept (not only) in early modern philosophy. In this course we interpret, analyse and discuss central texts on intuition by Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz (Locke). We discuss what their conceptions of intuition look like, what function they attribute to intuition and what the differences in their understanding of intuition are. We also relate early modern conceptions of intuition to relevant debates in in contemporary philosophy. Course type Seminar Bibliography Descartes, R., Meditations on First Philosophy - Rules for the Direction of the Natural Intelligence. - Discourse on Method. Spinoza, B. de, Ethics Demonstrated in Geometrical Order. Leibniz, G.W.F., New Essays Concerning Human Understanding. - Meditations on Knowledge, Truth, and Ideas. Bonjour, L. (1998): In Defense of Pure Reason. A Rationalist Account of A Priori Justification, Cambridge 1998. Bonjour, L. (2002): Epistemology. Classical Problems and Contemporary Responses, Oxford 2002. Gutting, G. (1998): Rethinking Intuition: A Historical and Metaphilosophical Introduction, in: DePaul, M./Ramsey, W. (Hrsg.): Rethinking Intuition, Lanham 1998, pp. 3-13. Hintikka, J. (1999): The Emperor’s New Intuitions, in: The Journal of Philosophy 96 (1999), pp. 127-147. Kornblith, H. (1998): The Role of Intuition in Philosophical Inquiry: An Account with No Unnatural Ingredients, in: DePaul, M./Ramsey, W. (Hrsg.): Rethinking Intuition, Lanham 1998, pp. 129-141. Van De Pitte, F. (1988) : Intuition and judgement in Descartes’s theory of truth, in : Journal of the History of Philosophy 26 (1988), S. 453-470. Assessment Paper (3000 words) or 30 min. oral exam Moodle Course ID Time Tu., 9:45-11:15
Kant - Kant’s Moral Philosophy Modul 2 ECTS 5 Dozent/-in Dietmar Heidemann Sprache English Lernziele In this course students read with comprehension and critically discuss central sections from Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals and the Critique of Practical Reason. They obtain an advanced understanding of Kantian duty ethics and the meaning of the categorical imperative. By the end of the semester students are in a position to evaluate central problems from Kant’s moral philosophy. Kurbeschreibung We will first analyse Kant’s argument for the categorical imperative in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, focusing especially on the relation between moral law and freedom in section III. Since in the Groundwork there remain open questions with respect to that relation, Kant, in the Critique of Practical Reason, modifies some of his views concerning the demonstration of the moral law. The second half of the semester will be dedicated to these modifications in the second Critique and their argumentative strength. Kurstyp Seminar Bibliografie Allison, Henry: Kant's Theory of Freedom, New York 1990. Beck, Lewis White: A Commentary on Kant’s ‘Critique of Practical Reason’, Chicago 1960 Denis, L. (Hg.): Kant’s Metaphysics of Morals: A Critical Guide. Cambridge, 2010 Guyer, Paul: Kant on Freedom, Law, and Happiness, New York 2000. Guyer, Paul, ed.: Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: Critical Essays, Lanham, MD, 1998. Kant, Immanuel: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, transl. M. Gregor, Cambridge 2010 (1998) (= Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy). Kant, Immanuel: Critique of Practical Reason, transl. M. Gregor, Cambridge 2010 (1997) (= Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy). Louden, Robert: Kant's Impure Ethics, New York 2000. Paton, Herbert J.: The Categorical Imperative: A Study in Kant’s Moral Philosophy, London 1947ff. Timmerman, Jens: Kant's Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals: A Commentary, New York 2007. Timmons, Mark, ed.: Kant's Metaphysics of Morals: Interpretative Essays, New York 2002. Prüfung Paper (3000 words) or 30 min. oral exam Time Tuesday, 11h30-13h00
German Idealism I : Hegel’s Ethics between liberal individualism and Political Romanticism Module 2 ECTS 5 Instructor Lukas K. Sosoe Learning goals: Students must be able to know the basic concepts of Hegel’s ethics, situated and discover its originality and understand his contribution to the critique of enlightenment and political romanticism Course type Seminar This seminar will be dedicated to Hegel’s Ethical Thought on the one side, it will insist, on the way how the way Hegel succeeded criticizing liberal individualism because of its formalism without giving up individual rights and freedom; on the other hand, it will exhibit how Hegel at the same time was an opponent and critique of Political romanticism represented by Novalis and Schlegel. By so doing it opens up the possibility to highlight the critical potential Hegel’s ethical thought still has for our time. Bibliography : Houlgate, Stephen, Freedom, Truth and History: An Introduction to Hegel’s Philosophy, London, Routledge, 1992; second edit. Oxford, Blackwell, 1994 Paperzak, Adrian, Modern Freedom: Hegel’s Legal Moral, and Political Philosophy, Dordrecht Kluwer, 2001 Wood, Allen, Hegel’s Ethical Thought, Cambridge, University Press, 1990. (A more complete bibliography will be distributed at the beginning of the course) Time : Tuesday, 15h00-16h30
Philosophy of Law Module (optional/elective) ECTS 5 Instructor Lukas K. Sosoe Learning goals Presentation and discussion of three divergent interpretations of Human Rights; Students will be made familiar with the historical philosophical foundation of Human Rights, with the reasons why they were not accepted and have been rejected by political romanticism and religion-based conceptions of Human Dignity. Course description The aim of the course is to present three divergent theories on Human Rights. 1) The classical one basesd on modern anthropological conceptions of the value of human beings endowed with an inherent dignity; 2) the second which is radically critical of this modern conceptions of Human beings and which considers Human dignity in relation to God (The Christian and Islamic interpretations of Human rights ) and a 3) third interpretation, a functional one, which rejects both interpretations as too dogmatic, According to this third theory, Human rights are nothing more or less than sociological mechanisms replacing old pre-modern structures and social bounds protecting indivuduals in segmentary and stratificatory societies. Course type Seminar Bibliography A detailed bibliography will be distributed at the beginning of the seminar. Time Wednesday : 9h45– 11h15 am
Nietzsche / Philosophy of Existence / Hermeneutics: From Nietzsche to Heidegger Module: 20th century and contemporary European philosophy, Semester 1 ECTS D 5 S 5 Instructor Arnaud Dewalque Prerequisite Bachelor Learning goals Students will be able to understand some main issues at stake in Nietzsche's and Heidegger's philosophical works, as well as to critically discuss some of their views from a contemporary point of view. Course This seminar explores some central themes in Nietzsche’s and Heidegger’s philosophical works. It is designed description to help participants understand those two authors in a way which is both historically informed and relevant from the point of view of contemporary analytic philosophy. We begin with a brief overview of how the scholarly understanding of Nietzsche moved, over the last two decades or so, from perspectivism to (a form of) naturalism. We then narrow down the scope of the course by zooming on specific topics. The first part of the course consists in an overview of Nietzsche’s thoughts about topics such as pessimism, truth, metaphysical fictions, moral judgment, and self-overcoming. The second part addresses Heidegger’s own strategy to deal with the so-called ‘identity crisis of philosophy’ and his efforts towards a better understanding of factual life, personhood, norms, and emotions. Course Type Seminar Bibliography Complete editions: Nietzsche, F. 1967—. Werke. Kritische Gesamtausgabe. Berlin/New York: de Gruyter, 1967 (see also the Digital Facsimile Edition by Paolo D’Iorio, available on ). Heidegger, M. 1975—. Gesamtausgabe. Frankfurt am Main: Klostermann. Recommended reading: Nietzsche, F. 2005. ‘Ecce Homo: How to Become What you Are.’ In The Antichrist, Ecce Homo, Twilight of the Idols and Other Writings. Cambridge: CUP, p. 69-152. Leiter, B. 2019. Moral Psychology with Nietzsche, Oxford: OUP. Heidegger, M. 1993a. Sein und Zeit (1927). Tübingen: Niemeyer, 17th ed. Engl. trans. J. Macquarrie and E. Robinson, Being and Time, London, SCM Press, 1962; new engl. trans. Joan Stambaugh, revised by Dennis J. Schmidt, Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 2010, part 1. Crowell, S. 2013. Normativity and Phenomenology in Husserl and Heidegger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Material for the classes will be made available on Moodle. Assessment All students will be required to take an active All students will be required to take an active part in class discussions throughout the part in class discussions throughout the semester semester and to prepare a paper on some and to prepare a paper on some relevant topic. relevant topic. Final grade will be determined by: Final grade will be determined by: 1. class participation D 1. class participation S 2. short presentation in class 2. short presentation in class 3. paper (3000 words/10 pages, written in 3. paper (3000 words/10 pages, written English, French or German, deadline will in English, French or German, deadline be communicated on Moodle) will be communicated on Moodle) Papers are expected to meet the academic Papers are expected to meet the academic standards in terms of language quality, clarity
standards in terms of language quality, clarity and logical articulation, references, etc. They will and logical articulation, references, etc. They be sent by email to (cc to ). will be sent by email to (cc to ). Additional advice Papers are expected to address one question at issue in Nietzsche OR Heidegger. The suggested standard four-step articulation is the following: 1. you address one philosophical issue 2. you identify and comment on one or two claims by Nietzsche OR Heidegger related to this issue 3. you identify and reconstruct the argument(s) they offer in favour of this (these) claim(s) 4. you discuss the argument(s): on your view, is it sound or not? Why? Please feel free to balance those elements as you wish: e.g., you can write an analysis paper centered upon the historical reconstruction of the view at stake (2.), or a thesis paper in which you present and defend one claim of yours (3.). In any case, your work should include a short introduction, a core-part, and a brief conclusion. Use footnotes for references or peripheral remarks. Assessment criteria will be - the relevance of the question at issue - the formal quality of the written text, including its clarity - the inner articulation and consistency of thoughts ID Die Moodle Course ID wird vom Fachbereich festgelegt. Time slot Thursday, 11:30 – 13:00. See guichet étudiant.
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