ABOUT NOT KNOWING

Part of the course will regard a general historical reconstruction of western philosophical movements and theories, with a special focus on some of the most influential currents (such as “idealism”, “materialism”, “rationalism”, “nihilism", "cybernetics"). Each session will be supported by the reading of some of the most representative thinkers in each historical frame. The course will focus on practical applications of philosophical thinking, in the main fields of ethics, metaphysics, politics and science.  A film screening may be planned, depending on time schedule.

The purpose of this course is to give students an opportunity to understand and use the basic philosophical instruments of argumentation. In fact having and settling arguments is a basic function in any kind of intellectual or scientific discipline and research.  The choice of concepts leading the discussions allows students not only to understand where the history of philosophy finds its origins, but also enables them to open their conceptual analysis from classical to modern thinking.

STUDENTS ARE ENCOURAGED TO FOCUS ON:

1. how philosophers use their arguments to support theories or hypotheses;

2. what is a philosophical solution of a (scientific, moral or political) problem.

The studied areas will be exemplified by the following links and readings:

Science:

1. Gravitational waves

https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/what-are-gw

1. Planetary intelligence

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-astrobiology/article/intelligence-as-a-planetary-scale-process/5077C784D7FAC55F96072F7A7772C5E5#

3.     Kant, Critique of Pure reason, (Pluhar, ed): Preface pp. 5-6; Aesthetics, pp. 72-73; Schematism, pp. 202- 203:http://library.mibckerala.org/lms_frame/eBook/Kant%20-%20Critique%20of%20Pure%20Reason%20(Hackett).pdf

Technique and nature:

1. Francisco Varela, Intimate Distances.

https://www.lionsroar.com/intimate-distances/

1. Xenobots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBYtBXaxsOw

1. Francisco Varela, Humberto Maturana, The Tree of Knowledge

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/29508644/maturana-varela-tree-of-knowledge

1. Aristotle, Metaphysics

 http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/metaphysics.1.i.html

5.      A Boy and His Atom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSCX78-8-q0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foqzblD6pvo

1. Diderot, D’Alembert’s Dream

https://antilogicalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/dalemberts-dream.pdf

Truth:

1. Plato, Sophist, Phaedo, pp.44-51:

https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/11270391

1. F. Nietzsche, Gay Science (§290) https://philoslugs.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/the-gay-science-friedrich-nietzsche.pdf

Individual freedom and politics:

1. Margareth Atwood

https://www.tellerreport.com/news/2021-12-08-margaret-atwood-on-afghanistan--no-country-can-exist-without-women.ByH_r6I0tK.html

1.  J. Locke, Human Understanding (Book I, Ch.II, §1-7; Book III, Ch. III, §1-13) (library ebook)

https://www.dca.fee.unicamp.br/~gudwin/ftp/ia005/humanund.pdf

1. H. Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism:

https://cheirif.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/hannah-arendt-the-origins-of-totalitarianism-meridian-1962.pdf (Ch. XIII and p. 502 on: The Satellite System)

       4. T. Hobbes, Leviathan (Vol. II, Ch. XVII, p. 103 ff.Ch. XXI, p. 129 ff)https://socialsciences.mcmaster.ca/~econ/ugcm/3ll3/hobbes/Leviathan.pdf

       5. N. Machiavelli, The Prince (Chs. XV and XVIII)

https://ia600302.us.archive.org/10/items/theprince01232gut/1232-h/1232-h.htm

The Circle of Governments (Ch.11,1)

http://press- pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch11s1.html

      6. Adam Smith, The wealth of Nations (Book I, Ch. 1, pp. 17-28) (library ebook)

https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/70749190

7.     Etienne de la Boétie, Anti-Dictator, Ch. 1 (ebook library)

https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/958739151

Justice:

1. The Human Condition, (Ch. IV)

https://monoskop.org/images/e/e2/Arendt_Hannah_The_Human_Condition_2nd_1998.pdf

1. Aristotle, Nicomachen Ethics,, III, 1.

3.     Kant, Toward Perpetual Peace and Other Political Writings, Yale 2006, pp. 67-85:

https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/123023627

4.     Kant on progress: pp. 150-157:

https://jculibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/123023627

1. K. Marx, Manifesto of the Communist Party (p. 14 ff).

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf

Fragment on Machines

https://thenewobjectivity.com/pdf/marx.pdf

Required course materials/study visits and expected expenditure for the students

All the material can be found in the library on reserve for this course, or online.

Reference texts:                         

Thomas Nagel, What does it all mean? A very short introduction to philosophy, 1987

G. Skirrbekk, History of Western Thought, Routledge 2001.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

https://plato.stanford.edu/contents.html

Videos (excerpts from):

Modern Times by C.Chaplin

The Matrix by A. and L. Wachowsky

Enjoy Poverty, by Renzo Martens

By the end of the semester, through constant argumentative practice, students will be capable to argue about the major fields of philosophical analysis, and of critically constructing their own perspective on the related issues. They will be able to distinguish the necessary and right questions from the outdated or irrelevant questions, through conceptual clarification and examination of real life and real world problems. 

The argumentative character of philosophy entails strong motivation, constant attention, active participation in class and interaction with the professor.

Students should plan to regularly attend the class, since we will often broaden the topics contained in the texts to contemporary issues, and since this class is mainly intended to the rousing of students’ personal thoughts and ideas.

Please refer to the university catalog for the attendance and absence policy.

Academic honesty

As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course.

The use of the computer is not allowed in class.