Studiegids

nl en

History of Philosophy

Vak
2011-2012

Admission requirements

This is a compulsory General Education course for all first-year students. There are no prerequisites for this course

Description

One of the key problematic in the kind of liberal arts and sciences programme offered by LUC is that of the ways in which knowledge has been created, organised, and legitimised throughout history and across the world. To help initiate students into the process of thinking about how historical and cultural contexts have shaped what it means to be knowledgeable in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences—as well as the meaning and parameters of those categories themselves—this course considers how the shape and significance of critical ideas have changed over time and through space, and thus inspects the history and sociology of philosophy and science.

Course objectives

The history of philosophy presented in this course tracks major developments and paradigm shifts in a gradual set of beliefs, methods, and positions which have been proposed and scrutinized over long periods of time to emerge into their current forms. These forms will likely give way to future directions we cannot yet fathom, and this course encourages us to understand the context in order to anticipate and imagine the revolutionary thoughts to come.

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:

  • demonstrate familiarity with major movements in the history of philosophy;

  • distinguish among factual, attitudinal, and verbal disputes in philosophy;

  • construct premises and conclusions for inductive arguments;

  • identify common fallacies in philosophical, especially logical, reasoning; and

  • recapitulate and evaluate various schools of philosophical thought.

Timetable

Please see the LUC website: www.lucthehague.nl

Mode of instruction

Interactive lectures (one 2-hour session per week, Weeks 1 – 7 and 9 – 15) will form the main body of this course, and a blackboard site will support the lecture discussions and host virtual conversations out of class. Do check our course site regularly for up-to-date reading assignments, multi-media material, and announcements. For further details of how the course will proceed, see sections below on “Assessment” and “Weekly overview”.

Assessment method

  1. Engaged understanding of all course material: assessed through Weekly web-postings on blackboard (250 words, 20% of final grade) :Weeks 1 – 7 + Weeks 9 – 15 (Ongoing)
  2. Clear comprehension of course material covered in Block 1: assessed in Mid-term take-home examination (40% of final grade):Week 8 (Thursday at 18:30)
  3. Clear comprehension of all course material: assessed in Final 2-hour sit-down examination (40% of final grade):Week 16 (Monday at 10:00)

Blackboard

This course is supported by a BlackBoard site

Reading list

There is no set textbook for the course. Assigned readings will be made available on blackboard and at the LUC e-library. While many of the primary texts are in the public domain, you may wish to purchase your own hard copies for future reference and reflection.

Registration

This course is only open for LUC The Hague students.

Contact information

dr. Cissie Fu: c.fu@luc.leidenuniv.nl

Weekly Overview

Block schedule:Lecture topic:Formal assessment
Week 1:What is it to “love wisdom”?:Web-posting
Week 2:What is truth? :Web-posting
Week 3:What is knowledge?:Web-posting
Week 4:What is belief?:Web-posting
Week 5:[LUC Dies Natalis – no lecture] :Nil
Week 6:What is reason?:Web-posting
Week 7:What is intention?:Web-posting
Week 8:[Reading Week – no lecture]:Take-home examination
Week 9:What is logic?:Web-posting
Week 10:What is metaphysics?:Web-posting
Week 11:What is epistemology?:Web-posting
Week 12:What is ethics?:Web-posting
Week 13:Debate 1: Copernicus vs. Galileo :Web-posting
Week 14:Debate 2: Luther vs. Leo X:Web-posting
Week 15:Debate 3: Austin vs. Wittgenstein:Web-posting
Week 16:[Reading Week – no lecture]:Final examination