• Course title: Rationalism
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-19
• Module(s): Module 1 : Early modern European philosophy
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

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.

“Intuition” is a key philosophical concept (not only) in early modern philosophy. In this course we interpret, analyze 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.Bibliografie    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.

 

Paper (3000 words) or 30 min. oral exam   

• Course title: Empiricism: Can We Build Morality from Sentiments?
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-31
• Module(s): Module 1 : Early modern European philosophy
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

 

An empiricist moral philosophy says that we experience actions or attitudes as good or evil, right or wrong, virtuous or vicious. Some prominent empiricists go further: we have a “moral sense” that delivers “moral sentiments”, and when we classify, say, an action as virtuous, we talk, in essence, about sentiments (of a certain kind) regarding that action and project them onto the action. At the end of this course, you should have a good basic knowledge of such approaches to ethics: structures, varieties, challenges, pros and con.

 

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. The most important text will be 23 paragraphs from David Hume’s Treatise: from sec. 3.1.1, § 26; from sec. 3.1.2, §§ 1–4, 6, 11; from sec. 3.3.1, §§ 6–11, 14–23. Please read those paragraphs with care and make thorough notes about them for your own use, in the style that is explained here: www.fehige.info/pdf/Notes.pdf. 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. You need 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.

There will be a written exam, in English, in the afternoon of 16 Dec, on the campus Belval (not online).

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).

Roderick Firth, “Ethical Absolutism and the Ideal Observer”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 12 (1952).

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 (vol. 1 or both volumes of) the same two people’s (!) edition of the same work (!), the Treatise, for the same publisher (!) for another series, the Clarendon Hume Edition Series.

––––, 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).

Francis 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 Nature 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).

Thomas Pölzler, Moral Reality and the Empirical Sciences, New York 2018, ch. 5.

Jesse Prinz, “The Emotional Basis of Moral Judgments”, Philosophical Explorations 9 (2006).

• Course title: Kant
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-20
• Module(s): Module 2 : Kant and German Idealism
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

Students read with comprehension, and interpret the transcendental deduction of the categories in Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason”. They analyze and reconstruct the deduction’s argument, identify and evaluate its problems and develop solutions to these problems. Moreover, students learn how to refer the central questions of the deduction to the post-Kantian and contemporary developments of philosophy.

In this course we interpret, analyze and discuss Kant’s theory of space and time. We mainly look at how Kant, in the transcendental aesthetic of the Critique of Pure Reason, argues for space and time as forms of intuition but also pay attention to the theory of space and time in Kant’s philosophy of nature. The course concentrates on three questions: What is the aim of the transcendental aesthetic? Are the arguments from space and time convincing proofs their apriority, necessity and objectivity? What are the main problems of Kant’s critical theory of space and time?Bibliography: Kant, I, Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. and ed. P. Guyer & A. Wood. Cambridge 1998:Cambridge University Press.— Theoretical Philosophy after 1781. Trans. and ed. H. Allison & P. Heath.Cambridge 2002: Cambridge University Press.Allison, Henry E., Kant’s Transcendental idealism, An Interpretation and Defense, New Haven, London 22004.Buroker, Jill Vance, Space and Incongruence. The Origin of Kant’s Idealism, Dordrecht 1981.Falkenstein, Lorne, Kant’s Intuitionism. A Commentary on the Transcendental Aesthetic, Toronto 1995.Guyer, Paul, Kant and the Claims of Knowledge, Cambridge 1987.Warren, Daniel, “Kant and the Apriority of Space”, in Philosophical Review 107 (1998), pp. 179–224

 Paper (3000 words) or oral exam

• Course title: German Idealism I
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-21
• Module(s): Module 2 : Kant and German Idealism
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

 The Students will be made familiar with the key concepts of Hegels Practical Philosophy and situate in a systematic perspectve Hegel’s  Social and Political Philosopy between two  political conceptions : the contemporary formulations of Political Liberalism and  Communitarianism. The seminar will highlight  Hegel’s critique of political Liberalism on the one side and the elements Hegel’s practical philosopohy has in common with communitarianism, on the other side. The main goal ist to underline Hegel’s presence in contemporary social and political philosophies.

 The course will begin with a general introduction to Hegel’s phiolosophy as one of the most important moment in German idealism and focus on Hegel‘s social and political philosophy.  Emphasis will be put on Hegel’s originality as a philosopher who tries to unite two different traditions  in social and political philosopohy : modern social and political theories and  non modern and romantic conception of political life. In this sense his practical philosoohy is one of the best ways to introduce and illustrate the  main controversies in contemporary social and political philosophical theories.BibliographyA short bibliography will be distributed at the beginning of the seminar. The seminar will be mainly based on Hegel’s Philosophy of Law

 

• Course title: Contemporary European Philosophy I
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-36
• Module(s): Module 3 : 20th century and contemporary European philosophy
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

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 put forward by prominent authors. A systematic understanding of epistemological phenomena is the central goal.

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 provided by 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.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.

 

 Presentation and paper (3000 words)   

• Course title: Nietzsche/Philosophy of Existence/Hermeneutics: Continental Philosophy
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-22
• Module(s): Module 3 : 20th century and contemporary European philosophy
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

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.

This course explores some central themes in Nietzsche’s and Heidegger’s philosophies viewed from a both historical and contemporary perspective. We begin with a very brief historical introduction which focuses on the so-called ‘identity crisis of philosophy’ and contrasts Nietzsche’s and Heidegger’s views with the Plato renaissance in neo-Kantianism. 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 music, truth, the self, values, and self-overcoming. The second part addresses Heidegger’s efforts toward a better understanding of factual life, the person, norms, emotions, and language.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.Emden, C. 2014. Nietzsche’s Naturalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.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.

ll students will be required to take an active part in class discussions throughout the semester and to prepare a paper on some relevant topic. A powerpoint version of the paper will be presented in class in one or other of the two closing sessions in December.Grade will be determined by: 1.    class participation2.    15-minute class presentation in English3.    paper (3000 words/10 pages, written in English, French or German, deadline for final version: January 14, 2019) Papers are expected to meet the academic standards in terms of language quality, clarity and logical articulation, full-blown references, etc. They should be send by email to a.dewalque(a)ext.uni.lu by January 14 at the latest.

• Course title: Philosophy & Ethics of AI
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-57
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional Module
• Language:
• Mandatory: No

By the end of the course, students should have sufficient understanding both of core philosophical concepts and also the technical details of AI technology, that they can precisely articulate ethical/philosophical problems and theories but also propose realistic possible solutions that take technological and computational constraints into account. There will be an emphasis on group work and on collaboration between philosophers and computer scientists on a course project.By the end of this course students should have acquired a basic grounding in philosophy and normative ethics, but also a detailed understanding of recent developments in A.I. technology. The aim will be to provide students with the conceptual tools to be comfortable working in an inter-disciplinary manner. Students will develop critical and communicative skills by engaging with literature and topics from both philosophy and computer science. The emphasis in this course will be on developing the ability to collaborate across disciplines so as to explore and provide possible solutions to philosophical and ethical problems that are generated by Artificial Intelligence.

Advances in computing technology, especially in Artificial Intelligence, raise the very real prospect of imminent, radical changes to everyday human life: e.g. in employment, healthcare, military conflicts, privacy, education, legal processes and institutions, etc. Trying to work out the ethical implications of these changes is surely one of the most pressing questions that humanity currently faces. AI and related technologies also raise profound philosophical questions concerning the nature of the mental, intelligence, rationality and knowledge.In this course we will try to approach some of these ethical and philosophical questions from an inter-disciplinary perspective. The course will be taught by faculty members from both the Philosophy and Computer Science departments and is open to students studying either the Masters in Contemporary European Philosophy or the Masters in Information and Computer Science.

Short Mid-Term Essay (c. 2000 words): 20%Short Homework Exercises: 20%Final Group Project: 60%

• Course title: The Greeks and the Others: the Orient in the Greek perception
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAHEC-122
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional Module
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

At the end of the course, students should be able to

analyse the primary and secondary sources on their perception and representation of “otherness”, 

analyse the implications the construction of the “Other” had in ancient and in modern times, 

find and critically use digital sources to gather, analyse, evaluate and visualise information.

Can we observe processes of “othering” already in antiquity? How were other peoples perceived and represented? How was the idea of the “Other” exploited in ancient and modern times? In this course, we will analyse the processes of “othering” based on the example of the Greek perception of the Orient from the Persian Wars up to the time of Alexander the Great. The conflict with Persia in the 5th century BC for example was a turning point in the construction of Greek identity. The Greeks had to reconsider their own values by contrasting them with a constructed “Barbarian” identity. A look at some key texts, e.g. the tragedies of Aeschylus or the “Persian War” of Herodotus, and at the visual representations will help to understand the processes as well as the aims of “othering”. Central to the discussion of the subject will be Edward Said’s “Orientalism” that focuses on the perceived divide between East and West and the Eurocentric vision of the “Orient”.

 20 %  Oral presentation30 %  Small assignments during the course 50%   Final paper 

Bibliography:

Gruen, E. S., Rethinking the Other in Antiquity, Oxford 2011.

Hall, E., Inventing the Barbarian: Greek Self-definition through tragedy, Oxford 1989. 

Isaac, B., The invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity, Princeton 2004. 

Nippel, W., Griechen, Barbaren und “Wilde”, Frankfurt a.M. 1990.

Said, E. W., Orientalism, New York 1978.

• Course title: Internship
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-43
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional Module
• Language: FR
• Mandatory: No

• Course title: Deutsch allgemein A2.1 (Belval)
• Number of ECTS: 3
• Course code: LC_CAT-239
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional Module
• Language: DE
• Mandatory: No

This course aims to develop language skills in the objective to reach level A2 in German (A2.1 in the winter term and A2.2 in the summer term).Communication skills: understand written and oral texts about everyday life, and – to a certain extent – also about university life; speak about a variety of everyday topics and learn to cope linguistically with different kinds of everyday situations; write texts that are commonly met with in everyday communication.Grammar: perfect tense, possessive pronouns, prepositions, declination of adjectives, common conjunctions, reflexive verbs, temporal conjunctions, local prepositions, passive voice, phrase construction, dative and accusative objects, verbs with prepositions, past tense, demonstrative pronouns, relative clause and relative pronouns.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:• understand and provide information about university life, family, profession, tourism and culture, sports and food, learning experiences, media and communication, travel and climate as well as mobility and professional life;• understand and provide information about past activities;• ask for help, express recommendations and suggestions as well as hope and surprise; talk about learning experiences and about habits; express happiness, enthusiasm and disappointment, satisfaction and dissatisfaction as well as interest and disinterest; book rooms, give directions, talk about the weather; explain things;• give a short presentation about topic related to university life;• compose basic texts and revise them with the support of the teacher

This course aims to develop language skills in the objective to reach level A2 in German (A2.1 in the winter term and A2.2 in the summer term).Communication skills: understand written and oral texts about everyday life, and – to a certain extent – also about university life; speak about a variety of everyday topics and learn to cope linguistically with different kinds of everyday situations; write texts that are commonly met with in everyday communication.Grammar: perfect tense, possessive pronouns, prepositions, declination of adjectives, common conjunctions, reflexive verbs, temporal conjunctions, local prepositions, passive voice, phrase construction, dative and accusative objects, verbs with prepositions, past tense, demonstrative pronouns, relative clause and relative pronouns.

Grading• Continuous assessment (40% of the final grade):• 1 writing portfolio with three texts (10%). The revised versions of the texts will be graded.• 1 short presentation (2-3 minutes) about a university-related topic (10%)• Online tasks: grammar, vocabulary, writing etc. (10%)At least 50% of the tasks need to be completed in order to get the full score.• A reading project with online tasks (10%)At least 50% of the tasks need to be completed in order to get the full score.• Final test (60% of the final grade)

BibliographyHabersack, Charlotte (2013): Menschen A2. Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Kursbuch. Ismaning: Hueber.Breitsameter, Anna (2013): Menschen A2. Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Arbeitsbuch. Ismaning: Hueber.Page 2 of 2Winter term: Dittrich, Roland (2016): Die Skorpion-Frau: Liebe und Tod in Heidelberg. Berlin: CornelsenWinter term: Dittrich, Roland (2016): Die Skorpion-Frau: Liebe und Tod in Heidelberg. Berlin: Cornelsen.Summer term: Dittrich, Roland (2011): Leise kommt der Tod. Berlin: Cornelsen

• Course title: Philosophy of Law
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-45
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional Module
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

Introduce students to the fact that human rights are not only a serie of principles or values. Their several interpretations and critics refer to explicit or implicit doctrines . According to the underlying  doctrine, human rights may appear in different light. This course will be dedicated to a modern sociological non axiological interpretation of human rights and its limits.

On a sociological  dogmatic of human rights: a philosophical analysisAccording to certain sociological theories, notably Niklas Luhmann’s strand of systems theory, human rights are not so much values the scope of which is ethical. Rather, they are merely a matter of sociological mechanisms developed for the individual’s protection which appeared with the passage to the modern world from more communitarian, traditional societies. The course aims to subject this thesis to a properly philosophical analysis. More specifically, what does the thesis mean? Why would a sociological protection mechanism not be a value? What does systems theory understand by “value” and why can a sociological mechanism not be a value? At the philosophical level, does this thesis necessarily refute the traditional ethical and political understanding of human rights?We shall first see, in broad outline, 1.) the doctrine of human rights such as it was formulated in early human rights declarations, both American (The Virginia Bill of Rights, 1776) and French (Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen, 1789). We shall then 2.) present several key concepts from systems theory before taking up in the last part 3.) the sociological doctrine put forward by systems theory. A bibliography comprising a selection of works will be made available at the first session.

Each participant is committed to giving a short presentation as part of the overall course assessment. 

• Course title: Français académique B1 (Belval)
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: LC_CAT-182
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional Module
• Language: FR
• Mandatory: No

 L’objectif de ce cours est d’acquérir les connaissances suffisantes en français pour accéder au cours de niveau universitaire B2. Cette remise à niveau est faite grâce à : des exercices de compréhension orale, de compréhension écrite. À l’oral seront mis en place des jeux de rôles, des présentations et des débats. Nous élaborerons également des cartes mentales qui faciliteront l’acquisition du vocabulaire. Nous nous attarderons également sur la rédaction de différents genres de texte dont nous détaillerons la structure. Toutes ces activités seront ludiques, répondront à des besoins concrets. Les modalités de travail seront variées : travail en grand groupe, en binômes, individuel afin de favoriser la collaboration entre pairs. Le contenu sera adapté selon les besoins du groupe, ainsi vous pourrez commencer le semestre suivant sur des bases solides.

A l’issue de ce cours vous serez capable de : • lire des articles sur des questions contemporaines• comprendre différents points de vue• comprendre un texte littéraire contemporain• écrire des textes clairs et détaillés sur des sujets relatifs à vos intérêts• écrire un essai ou un rapport sur un sujet précis de manière concise, claire, et efficace• exposer son argumentation• mettre en valeur son opinion sur un événement ou une expérience 

Ce cours a pour but de renforcer vos connaissances et vos pratiques en langue française, notamment à l’oral et à l’écrit afin de répondre aux exigences du cadre universitaire et de votre future carrière. Dans une perspective actionnelle, nous travaillerons sur des documents authentiques tels que des articles de presse ou des extraits vidéo. C’est à travers notre corpus que nous aborderons la grammaire et le vocabulaire, outils au service de vos besoins de communication. Vous déduirez les règles de grammaire à partir d’exemples concrets du corpus et les mettrez en pratique à travers plusieurs exercices ludiques.Le travail de production écrite sera décliné sous plusieurs formes : donner ses arguments sous la forme d’une liste d’idées la rédaction d’une réclamationune lettre officielleun résumé d’articleun article argumenté (2 pages maximum) sur un sujet de votre choix.  

25% : Notes des devoirs écrits rendus50% : Compréhension écrite et rédaction d’un article (maximum 2 pages) après une séance de révision en cours.25% : Participation orale en cours et la préparation des devoirs maison. Un maximum de 2 absences est accepté.

Bibliographie  Édito B1, Éditions Didier, 2018 Grammaire essentielle du français, B1, Didier, 2015 Cosmopolite B1, Hachette, 2018 

• Course title: Philosophy of Enlightenment
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-55
• Module(s): Module 1 : Early modern European Philosophy
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

The 18th century Enlightenment has suffered from being interpreted too much after the fact, by both supporters and critics. This course will attempt to provide a more accurate interpretation by placing it in its own times. In particular, it will emphasise how the scientific revolution of the 17th century effected a break with the past, and, by installing new conceptions of knowledge and its foundations, undermined traditional authority in religion and politics as well as philosophy. Topics will include: the role accorded to Descartes’ Discourse as an ideological weapon against tradition; the central role played, even amongst the French, by the empiricism of Bacon, Locke and Newton; the ideal of “Reason” as the ideal of individual autonomy (not of rationalist philosophy), and its concomitant elevation of (a secularized version of) the idea of individual rights; Newtonian science and the rise of Deism and the argument from design; the consequent revival of Stoic and Epicurean ethical views; and the important role of Spinoza’s Theological-Political Treatise in the radical thought of the French Revolution. Particular attention will be paid to Hume’s Enquiry concerning Human Understanding, which captures key Enlightenment themes in its argument that a version of empiricism implies that the human being is an inertial machine, and as such incapable of plumbing nature’s depths, and therefore also incapable of knowing any putative religious truths.

final paper (3000 words / 10 pages)

Bibliographie:

Lucretius, On the Nature of Things

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Grotius, On the Laws of War and Peace

Descartes, Discourse on Method

Hobbes, Leviathan

Spinoza, Ethics

Spinoza, Theological-Political Treatise

Locke, An Essay concerning Human Understanding

Locke, Two Treatises of Government

Shaftesbury, Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times

Voltaire, Letters on the English Nation

Rousseau, Discourse on the Origin of Inequality

D’Alembert, Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot

La Mettrie, Machine Man

Hume, An Enquiry concerning Human Understanding

Hume, An Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals

D’Holbach, The System of Nature

Kant, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment?

 

A. Bailey & D. O’Brien, Hume’s Enquiry concerning Human Understanding (Continuum, 2006)

S. Buckle, Hume’s Enlightenment Tract (Oxford, 2001)

E. Cassirer, The Philosophy of the Enlightenment (Princeton, 1979)

S. Fleischacker, What is Enlightenment? (Routledge, 2013)

M. Frazer, The Enlightenment of Sympathy (Oxford, 2010)

P. Gay, The Enlightenment (Norton, 1966, 1969; 2 Vols)

S. Gaukroger, The Natural and the Human (Oxford, 2016)

G. Himmelfarb, The Roads to Modernity (Vintage, 2008)

J. Israel, A Revolution of the Mind (Princeton, 2010)

M. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment, 2nd. Ed. (Cornerstone, 2006)

T. Kavanagh, Enlightened Pleasures (Yale, 2010)

I. Kramnick (ed.), The Portable Enlightenment Reader (Penguin, 1995)

D. Rasmussen, The Pragmatic Enlightenment (Cambridge, 2014)

J. Robertson, The Case for the Enlightenment (Cambridge, 2005)

E. Rothschild, Economic Sentiments (Harvard, 2001)

P. Schouls, Descartes and the Enlightenment (Edinburgh, 1989)

J. Schmidt, What is Enlightenment? (California, 1996)

R. Susato, Hume’s Sceptical Enlightenment (Edinburgh, 2015)

C. Taylor & S. Buckle (ed.), Hume and the Enlightenment (Pickering & Chatto, 2011)

B. Tierney, The Idea of Natural Rights (Eerdmans, 1997)

C. Wilson, Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity (Oxford, 2008)

• Course title: German Idealism II
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-32
• Module(s): Module 2 : Kant and German Idealism
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

Thema: Schelling’s Philosophy of History Revival!Many different contemporary philosophers propose to reinterpret Schelling, either from the perspective of the modal theories of enunciation (such as M. Gabriel does) or by reconstructing a psychoanalytic theory of subjectivity (Zizek), or through the recourse to a deconstruction of the soteriological representation of Christian history (Agamben). What these reinterpretations have in common is to base their work on a neglected part of Schelling’s philosophy of history, the last one, called “Positive philosophy” or “Philosophy of Revelation”. What are the main sketches of this Schellingian rebirth? How must we interpret it into our contemporary context and identify its possible limits? These are the main questions that will lead our course.Bibliography : Agamben G., Le règne et la gloire, Homo sacer II, 2, trad. J. Gayraud et M. Rueff, Seuil, 2008.M. Gabriel & S. Žižek, Mythology, Madness and Laughter, Subjectivity in German Idealism, Continuum, London/New York, 2009.S. Žižek (and F.W.J. von Schelling), The Abyss of Freedom/Ages of the World, trans. by Judith Norman, The University of Michigan Press, 1997.S. Žižek, The Indivisible Remainder, An Essay on Schelling and Related Matters,Verso, London/New York, 1996 [accessible sur http://books.google.fr ]; traduction française: Essai sur Schelling, Le reste qui n’éclôt jamais, L’Harmattan, Paris, 1996. [accessible sur http://books.google.fr ]J.-F. Courtine (ed.), Schelling, Coll. « Cahiers d’histoire de la philosophie », Cerf, Paris, 2010.

Ca. 10-page paper based on the readings proposed in the course bibliography.

The paper may be written in French, English, Spanish or German. The paper should be emailed to the following address:

marc.maesschalck@uclouvain.be

Bibliography:

 

M. C. Altman & C. D. Coe, The Fractured Self in Freud and German Philosophy, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2013.

M. Gabriel & S. Žižek, Mythology, Madness and Laughter, Subjectivity in German Idealism, Continuum, London/New York, 2009.

M. Maesschalck, « Eshétique et psycho-analyse. La réponse du jeune Fichte à Schiller concernant l’éducation », in Revue roumaine

de philosophie

, 56 (2012), n. 1, pp. 5-22.

M. Maesschalck, « L’engendrement du commencement selon Schelling : signification et enjeux d’une protologie de la conscience », in M. Vetö (dir.), Philosophie, théologie, littérature. Hommage à Xavier Tilliette, Peeters, Louvain/Paris, 2011, pp. 293-318.

K. Regenspurger et T. van Zantwijk (dir.), Wissenschaftliche Anthropologie um 1800?,

Franz Steiner Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2005.

R. J. Richards, « Kant and Blumenbach on the Bildungstrieb: A Historical Misunderstanding », in Stud.

Hist. Phil. Biol. & Biomed. Sci

., Vol. 31, 2000, n. 1, pp. 11–32.

H.G. SandKühler (ed.), Handbuch Deutscher Idealismus, Metzler, Stuttgart/Weimar, 2005 (trad. Fr. Kervegan, Cerf, 2015: Manuel de l’idéalisme allemand)

8.    

O’Meara Thomas F., “F. W. Schelling”, in The review of metaphysics a philosophical quarterly, vol. XXXI, n°2, 1977, pp. 283-309.

Markus G.,

Transcendental Ontology. Essays in German Idealism

. New York/London: Continuum 2011 [Paperback: New York: Bloomsbury 2013]

S. Žižek (and F.W.J. von Schelling), The Abyss of Freedom/Ages of the World, trans. by Judith Norman, The University of Michigan Press, 1997.

• Course title: Transcendental philosophy
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-54
• Module(s): Module 2 : Kant and German Idealism
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

Students read with comprehension, and critically discuss passages from Kant’s work that are relevant for the question of non-conceptual content. They acquire a thorough understanding of the problem of non-conceptual content as such and are able to take position with respect to the question of whether or not Kant is a non-conceptualist. Students learn in what way Kantian arguments can contribute to the contemporary debate on non-conceptual content.

Non-conceptualism is the view that mental representations of the world do not necessarily presuppose concepts by means of which the content of these representations can be specified, i.e., cognizers can have mental representations of the world that are non-conceptual. We will discuss Kant’s transcendental idealism with respect to this view. We mainly focus on the first Critique but also discuss passages from other Kantian writings such as ‘Concerning the Ultimate Foundation’, ‘On the Form and Principles’, ‘Anthropology’ etc. We will identify arguments and strategies in Kant that help to settle the dispute between conceptualists and non-conceptualist.  The course thus focuses on two questions: (a) What is non-conceptual content? (b) Is Kant a non-conceptualist? 

Paper (3000 words) or 30 min. oral exam

 Bibliographie:

Allais, L. (2009) ‘Kant, Non-Conceptual Content and the Representation of Space’ Journal of the History of Philosophy47: pp. 383–413.

Bermúdez, J. and A. Cahen, (2011) ‘Nonconceptual Mental Content’, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2011 Edition), E. N. Zalta (ed.) available at http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2011/entries/content-nonconceptual/.

Hanna, R. (2005) ‘Kant and Nonconceptual Content’, European Journal of Philosophy 13: pp. 247–90.

Heidemann, Dietmar H. (ed.) (2012)

Kant and Non-Conceptual Content, Abingdon, New York 2013.

Kant, I.

(1992): Immanuel Kant: Lectures on Logic, ed. and transl. J. M. Young, Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press

.

––– (1998) Critique of Pure Reason, P. Guyer and A. W. Wood (ed. and trans.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

––– (2003a) ‘Concerning the Ultimate Foundation of the Distinction of the Directions in Space’, in D. Walford (ed.) Immanuel Kant: Theoretical Philosophy, 1755–1770, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

––– (2003b) ‘On the Form and Principles of the Sensible and the Intelligible world’, in D. Walford (ed.) Immanuel Kant: Theoretical Philosophy, 1755–1770, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

––– (2007)

Immanuel Kant

:

Anthropology, History, and Education, ed. G. Zöller and R. B. Louden, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McDowell, J. (1996) Mind and World, Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press.

Peacocke, C. (2001) ‘Does Perception Have a Nonconceptual Content?’, Journal of Philosophy 98: pp. 239-64.

Stephenson, A. (2011) ‘Kant on Non-Veridical Experience’, Kant Yearbook 3 : pp.1-22.

 

• Course title: Phenomenology: Phénoménologie de la conscience et de l'esprit
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-3
• Module(s): Module 3 : 20th century and Contemporary European Philosophy
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

Students will acquire a thorough understanding of the phenomenological approach to the mind and will be able to take a critical stance on a number of disputed questions in the present-day analytic philosophy of mind.

Phenomenological analysis recently attracted increasing interest among analytic philosophers of mind. One crucial motivation for appealing to phenomenological analysis comes from the fact that any study of the human mind has to account somehow for the way things appears to us or are experienced from a first-person perspective. Phenomenological analysis precisely aims at describing first-person experiences, providing us with fine-grained distinctions between our mental states, exploring the theoretical (philosophical) consequences of such distinctions, and constructing critical arguments about competing views of the mind.  Within the framework of this course, we will discuss some selected issues at the crossroads of phenomenology and philosophy of mind. The main figure of the course will be the Austro-German philosopher Franz Brentano (1838-1917), who is usually regarded as the grandfather of the phenomenological movement. As we will see, Brentano’s descriptive psychology is full of innnovative insights into a number of issues at stake in the current research context: the criteria for the mental, the nature of consciousness, the structure of experience, the variety of attitude types, the taxonomy of the senses, the nature of cognitive experiences, etc.  

Students will be asked to write an original paper (about 3000 words / 10 pages) addressing one of the topics discussed during the classes.

Recommended readings:

 

1) Brentano F., Psychologie vom empirischen Standpunkte:

 

–       

Original edition: Leipzig, Duncker & Humblot, 1874. Reprinted in Brentano F., Sämtliche veröffentlichte Schriften, vol. I., Th. Binder and A. Chrudzimski (eds.), Frankfurt/Main, Ontos Verlag, 2008.

–       

Trad. fr. M. de Gandillac, revue par J.-F. Courtine, Psychologie du point de vue empirique, Paris, Vrin, 2008.

–       

Engl. edition by L. L. McAlister, Psychology from an Empirical Standpoint, trans. by A. Rancurello, D. B. Terrell and L. L. McAlister, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1973, 1995; with a foreword by Tim Crane, Routledge, 2015.

 

2) Brentano F., Deskriptive Psychologie:

 

–       

Original edition: R. M. Chisholm et W. Baumgartner (eds.), Hamburg, Meiner, 1982; new, critical ed. In preparation by G. Fréchette.

–       

Trad. fr. A. Dewalque, Psychologie descriptive,Paris, Gallimard, 2017.

–       

Engl. trans. by B. Müller, Descriptive Psychology, London, Routledge, 1995, 2002.

 

Additional support and references will be made available on Moodle.

 

• Course title: Master Colloquium 1
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-52
• Module(s): Module 4: Master module
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

The aim of this colloquium is to prepare students for their master thesis. Students learn how to develop, present and defend research projects, how to evaluate and criticize other student’s work, and how to react on criticism. The objective is to accompany student’s research work throughout the master program and to ensure student’s success.

In the Master Colloquium students present their own research projects, or propose recent research work by others (relevant articles, book chapters, books etc.) for discussion. 

Paper presentation

Bibliography:

tba.

• Course title: Introduction to topics in Formal Philosophy
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-58
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional module
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

By the end of the course, students should have a basic competence with the formal machinery of probability theory and decision theory. Students will have a grasp of the main different philosophical interpretations of probability and of instrumental rationality. Students will also become familiar with some of the main outstanding philosophical problems in this area – e.g. Hempel’s paradox of the ravens, Newcomb’s problem, Kyburg’s lottery paradox, etc.

This course will aim to provide a very gentle introduction to some formal tools that are vitally important for philosophy – specifically, the use of probability and decision theory. In the first half of the course we will look at the basics of probability and utility. This will not require any complicated or advanced mathematics – rather the emphasis will be on grasping the basic concepts and issues of philosophical interpretation. Then in the second half of the course we will consider the use and application of these formal tools for various philosophical debates, primarily questions concerning rationality: how should we rationally update our beliefs? How should we rationally evaluate and choose plans for actions?

This course will be assessed via term paper and homework assignments. See syllabus for details.

Bibliography:

We will read a variety of recent papers in philosophy throughout the course As background reading, the following textbooks are recommended as useful:

Ian Hacking: An Introduction to Probability and Inductive Logic (Cambridge University Press)

David Papineau: Philosophical Devices (Oxford University Press)

Martin Peterson: An Introduction to Decision Theory (Cambridge University Press)

• Course title: Deutsch A1.2 allgemein – Belval
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: LC_CAT-269
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional module
• Language: DE
• Mandatory: No

Communication skills: The students will learn to understand simple written texts and engage in oral communication on topics such as buying goods and food, making appointments, hobbies and leisure activities, furniture and living arrangements, tourist attractions, and urban living.

Grammar: The students will learn regular and irregular verbs in the present and perfect tense, articles and nouns with gender and cases, modal verbs, interrogative and imperative forms, sentence structure, pronouns, prepositions, connectors, participles etc. 

Course design: The objective is the continued acquisition of basic oral and written skills. Students will engage in speaking, listening, writing, and reading communicative activities through individual, pair, and group work. Additionally, students will be provided with links to interactive exercises, quizzes, and games as well as to tutorials and other informative tools. The course concludes with a language examination covering all four communicative activities.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

Understand and provide information about themselves and general personal matters

Understand and give information about their leisure activities and making appointments

Understand and provide information about rooms, apartments, and furniture

Understand and provide information about clothes, fashion, and shopping

Understand and give information about attractions and towns in the German-speaking countries

Perform everyday linguistic actions Understand and write simple texts like emails or SMS messages.

The objective is the continued acquisition of basic oral and written skills. Students will engage in speaking, listening, writing, and reading communicative activities through individual, pair, and group work. Additionally, students will be provided with links to interactive exercises, quizzes, and games as well as to tutorials and other informative tools. The course concludes with a language examination covering all four communicative activities.

Speaking, listening, writing and reading skills will be evaluated through task-based activities. Listening: Key information from listening texts (radio, TV, etc.) must be understood. Reading: Key information must be found in short reading texts, or questions about these texts must be answered   Writing: Simple texts are to be summarized, and basic text production is required. Students will be evaluated on their active participation in the course, their regular homework (which may include grammar or vocabulary exercises), and their final test (both written and spoken).

Attendance is mandatory

• Course title: Deutsch A2.2 allgemein – Belval
• Number of ECTS: 3
• Course code: LC_CAT-268
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional module
• Language: DE
• Mandatory: No

This course aims to develop language skills to reach level A2.2 in German.Communication skills: Students will learn to understand written and oral texts about everyday life, and, to some extent, university life. They will be able to speak about a variety of everyday topics and handle different everyday situations linguistically. Additionally, students will write texts commonly encountered in everyday communication.Grammar: The course covers common conjunctions, especially temporal conjunctions, passive voice, sentence construction, dative and accusative objects, indirect questions and interrogative determiners, local prepositions, verbs with prepositions, modal verbs, reflexive verbs, past tense, demonstrative pronouns, relative clauses, and relative pronouns.Course design: This is a blended learning course in which students develop their linguistic skills both in class and on an e-learning platform (Moodle). Students earn 2 ECTS for classroom participation and 1 ECTS for teacher-guided autonomous learning at home, which amounts to approximately two hours per week. Students will develop a writing portfolio with two short texts and deliver a short presentation on a topic related to the course program at the end of the semester. The course concludes with a final exam.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:Understand and provide information about everyday life, learning experiences, media and communication, culture and administration, travel and climate, as well as mobility and professional life.Understand and describe past activities.Ask for help, make recommendations and suggestions, and express hope and surprise. Discuss learning experiences and habits, express happiness, enthusiasm, disappointment, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction, as well as show interest and disinterest. Additionally, students will be able to book rooms, give directions, talk about the weather, and explain various topics.Deliver a short presentation on a topic related to the course program.Write basic texts and revise them with the support of the teacher.

Continuous assessment (40%of the final grade):Online tasks: grammar, vocabulary, etc.(20%)At least 50% of the tasks need to be completed to receive the full score.1 writing portfolio containing two short texts (10%)1 short oral presentation (2-3minutes) on a topic related to thecourse program(10%)Final test (60% of the final grade)

BibliographyHabersack, Charlotte, Pude, Angela, Specht, Franz(2019): Menschen A2. Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Kursbuch. Ismaning: Hueber.Breitsameter, Anna, Glas-Peters, Sabine, Pude, Angela(2013): Menschen A2. Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Arbeitsbuch. Ismaning: Hueber.

• Course title: Français général A1.2 – General French A1.2 (Belval)
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: LC_CAT-263
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional module
• Language: FR
• Mandatory: No

Communicative skills in French:- introduce oneself, get in touch with someone and introduce someone (name, age, nationality, profession, spelling);- talk about one’s daily environment (address, e-mail, telephone number, talk about one’s family, hobbies);- ask and give news about someone;- know how to find your way: directions/give instructions;- know how to ask for information (orally and in writing);- ask for the time;- write a simple, short message or fill in simple registrations forms with your personal details

After completing this course, you will be able to use familiar everyday expressions and basic phrases. You can introduce yourself and ask and answer questions about personal details. You can interact in a simple way, provided that the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

This is a general French course, where written and oral comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and spelling are worked on, as well as written and oral expression in French. From the beginning of this course, you will start communicating in French. The covered topics include: greeting, introducing yourself, talking about yourself and your family, describing a city and a neighbourhood, talking about your hobbies and interests. The necessary grammar is explained and ample attention is paid to vocabulary. All skills are covered: speaking, writing, reading and listening. Attention is also paid to the cultural context of Luxembourg. 

Your final grade will be divided into:•attendance (compulsory) + participation in class: 20%,•2 tests based on oral and written comprehension: 30% •Final test: 50%

BibliographyBonjour et bienvenue A1.1 – tout en français – Livre-cahier + didierfle.appISBN 978-2278110803100% FLE – Grammaire essentielle du français A1 – livre + didierfle.appISBN978-2278109234

• Course title: Français général A2.2 – General French A2.2 (Belval)
• Number of ECTS: 3
• Course code: LC_CAT-270
• Module(s): Module 5 : Optional module
• Language: FR
• Mandatory: No

 

À l’issue de ce cours, vousserezcapable de:Demander, comprendre et donner des informations sur des habitudes quotidiennes, un emploi du temps, des personnes, un règlement ;Parler de vos goûts ;Décrire votre environnement personnel (pays, logement, université) ;Parlerde vos projets personnels et professionnels;Expliquer vos choix en comparant ;Demander et donner des conseils;Parler de vos études et de votre expérience professionnelle;Raconter des événements passés, un souvenir, une anecdote, une expérience ;Parler brièvement de l’actualité, raconter un fait divers.

Nous analyserons d’abord vos besoins et ferons ensuite quelques révisions de grammaire et de vocabulaire:- Utilisation du présent, du passé composé et du futur proche ;- Conjugaison des verbes essentiels (faire, pouvoir, devoir, vouloir, savoir, connaître) ;- Utilisation des articles (définis, indéfinis et partitifs) ;- Utilisation des pronoms personnels compléments (directs, indirects, y, en) ;- Utilisation des pronoms relatif simples (qui, que, où) ;- Utilisation des expressions de temps ;- Formulation des questions ;- Lieux importants de la vie quotidienne ;- Description physique et psychologique des personnes ;- Habitudes ;- Alimentation.Puis nous étudierons la comparaison, les formes négatives, la condition avec « si », l’imparfait de l’indicatif, l’alternance passé composé/imparfait ainsi que le futur simple, tout en nous intéressant au vocabulaire des études, du travail, des médias et des voyages.Nous approfondirons ces points à l’aide de documents issus de la vie quotidienne.

 

Bibliographie: La bibliographie est présentée pourinformation. Iln’est pas nécessaire d’acheter leslivres.Édito, niveau A2, édition 2022, Didier FLEEn contexte – Exercices de grammaire, niveau A2, HachetteVocabulaire progressif du français, niveau A2, CLÉ International

• Course title: Contemporary European Philosophy II
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-37
• Module(s): Module 3 : 20th century and Contemporary European Philosophy
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

The students will acquire a sensibility for normative phenomena. They will learn how to formulate and conceptualize various questions and theses concerning the normative. Furthermore, they will become familiar with various philosophical views and arguments about normativity. Discussion and argumentation will be practiced in class, and the students will improve their discursive and conceptual skills in the normative domain.

Many phenomena are normative: justification and knowledge, (some) norms and rules, (some) reasons and oughts, moral responsibility etc. They are not, or not merely, descriptive. Two questions are at the heart of philosophical investigations into normativity. (1.) How can the whole range of normative phenomena be organized in a systematic way? Which normative concepts are the basic ones such that the other normative concepts can be characterized in terms of these few basic normative concepts? (Can it be done in terms of oughts, or in terms of normative reason, or …?) (2.) What is the nature of the normative as such? Can it be explained in terms of something descriptive, or is it irreducible? – This second question seems to lead into a dilemma: Either the normative is reducible to, or explicable in terms of, some descriptive facts/phenomena. Then it does not seem to be truly normative after all. Or it is not reducible, and then it seems to be somewhat mysterious how there could be any such thing as a normative phenomenon. – In this seminar, we will study important contemporary contributions to both of these questions.Bibliography:A list of references will be provided at the beginning of the course.

Presentation and paper (10 – 15 pages)

• Course title: Master Colloquium (b)
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-56
• Module(s): Module 4: Master Module
• Language: EN
• Mandatory: No

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. The major 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.

In the Master Colloquium, students give presentations on their own work, or discuss recent publications by others (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 also in the epistemic case). The role of reactive attitudes (P. Strawson), control (Fisher, Ravizza), and reasons (S. Wolf) will be studied in order to see how freedom and responsibility could arise.

Presentation and discussion of research projects.

 

• Course title: Master Colloquium 3
• Number of ECTS: 5
• Course code: MAPR-34
• Module(s): Module 4: Master module
• Language: FR
• Mandatory: No

• Course title: Master Thesis
• Number of ECTS: 30
• Course code: MAPR-25
• Module(s): Module 6 : Master thesis
• Language:
• Mandatory: No