Main Currents in the History of Philosophy

3 ECTS credits
90 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021077ANW for working students in the 1st semester at a (A) Bachelor - preliminary level.

Semester

1st semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Enrollment Requirements

NOTE: registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.

Taught in

Dutch

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

History, Archaeology, Arts, Philosophy and Ethics

Educational team

Emiliano Acosta (course titular)

Activities and contact hours

26 contact hours Lecture
12 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals

Course Content

The course is divided into two series of lectures (Dutch: college)

Only the A lectures are required for students following the course for 3 ECTS.:

- A Lectures (Dutch: “college A”): a historical and systematic overview of the major currents in Western philosophy from Greek Antiquity to contemporary philosophy and a critical analysis of some ideas and writings of the following philosophers: Heraclitus, Plato, Aristoteles, Al-Farabi, Kant, Wollstonecraft, Fichte, de Beauvoir, Heidegger en Preciado.

The lectures consist of four parts: (i) philosophy of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, (ii) modern philosophy I, (iii) modern philosophy II, and (iv) 20th-century and contemporary philosophy. Following currents are discussed in the lectures: materialism, dialectical thinking, sophistry, idealism, hylemorphism, epicurism, stoicism and skepticism, monism and dualism, scholasticism, Islamic medieval philosophy, humanism, rationalism, empiricism, conservative and radical Enlightenment, transcendental philosophy, German idealism, existentialism, phenomenology, structuralism and post-structuralism, decolonial and postcolonial theory.

Course material

Digital course material (Required) : Teksten over en van de in college A bestudeerde filosofen (Canvas), Canvas
Digital course material (Recommended) : Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/index.html, https://plato.stanford.edu/index.html
Handbook (Recommended) : Plato lezen, Liefde, filosofie en democratie in de Apologie van Socrates, Acosta, E., ASP, 9789057189494, 2020
Digital course material (Recommended) : Apologie van Socrates, http://arsfloreat.nl/documents/Plato-Apologie.pdf, Plato, http://arsfloreat.nl/documents/Plato-Apologie.pdf
Practical course material (Recommended) : own notes
Course text (Required) : Filosofische decamerone, Acosta, E., ACCO, 9789464671605, 2023

Additional info

Presence at the lectures is strongly recommended: during the first lesson all practical information is communicated, at the beginning of each lecture, there will be a Q&A session on the content of the previous lecture, the content of the all lectures is also part of the course material.

Learning Outcomes

General competencies

- The students know the different interpretations that have been given to the words "philosophy", "being", "freedom", "emancipation", "subject", "object", "male", "female" and "man" in the history of Western thought.
- The students master the fundamental concepts, arguments, and theories of the most relevant philosophical theories from Antiquity to the 20th century.
- The students are able to explain the historical and conceptual relations between philosophers, philosophical schools and currents.
- The students can identify in the discussed philosophers the historical and cultural limitations and the socio-economic conditions that make each philosophy possible.
- Students can identify the technical terminology of each philosopher discussed.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Other Exam determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

permanent evaluation with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

The evaluation form is permanent evaluation.
Two evaluation moments for college A: Two online multiple choice exams, 10 questions each (30 minutes each).

Procedure 2nd session: multiple choice exam about college A (20 questions in max. 60 minutes)

The dates of the examination moments will be announced in Canvas.

Facilities for foreign students and students applying for flexibility measures (https://student.vub.be/flexibiliteit#intro).

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context