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2020/2021

Contemporary Ethics

Code: 100283 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500246 Philosophy OB 3 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Antonio Gómez Villar
Email:
Antonio.Gomez.Villar@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
spanish (spa)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Prerequisites

No requirement

Objectives and Contextualisation

- Discover the main tendencies and authors of moral thinking in the 19th and 20th centuries.

- Play an active role in developing the content through oral interventions from students.

Competences

  • Analysing and summarising the main arguments of fundamental texts of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • Applying the knowledge of ethics to the moral problems of society, and assessing the implications about the human condition of changes in the world of contemporary techniques.
  • Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
  • Recognising and interpreting topics and problems of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • Recognising the philosophical implications of the scientific knowledge.
  • Respecting the diversity and plurality of ideas, people and situations.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Ability to maintain an appropriate conversation.
  2. Accurately drawing up normative texts.
  3. Accurately using the specific lexicon of the history of philosophy.
  4. Analysing the main ethical concepts in the current moral dilemmas.
  5. Assessing a concrete ethical position, in the context of the current world's problems.
  6. Assessing the philosophical importance of several factors of current social conflicts.
  7. Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
  8. Carrying out oral presentations using an appropriate academic vocabulary and style.
  9. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  10. Engaging in debates about philosophical issues respecting the other participants' opinions.
  11. Establishing relationships between science, philosophy, art, religion, politics, etc.
  12. Explaining the philosophical importance of contemporary science and its implementation area.
  13. Indicating and summarising the common content of several manifestations of various fields of culture.
  14. Judging the moral impact of new technological developments on humans.
  15. Mastering the relevant languages to the necessary degree in the professional practice.
  16. Reading basic philosophical text thoroughly.
  17. Relating the characteristic elements and factors of the philosophical tradition.
  18. Summarising the topics and arguments exposed in a classical philosophical debate.
  19. Using specialized knowledge acquired in an interdisciplinary context when debating.
  20. Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.

Content

I. Critique of the values of the Enlightenment

- F. Nietzsche: Affirmation of the absolute development of individuality

- M. Weber: Calvinist ethics

- H. Arendt: The recovery of the meaning of political action as the highest human activity

 

II. Freedom, justice, community

- I. Berlin: Negative liberty and positive liberty

- J. Rawls: A reinterpretation of the classical theory of the social contract

- M. Walzer: The communitarian critique of liberalism

 

III. Ethics and feminism

- S. Federici: The great witch-hunt in Europe

- R. Segato: Femicide as the first expression of the pedagogy of cruelty

 

Methodology

The course methodology will based strictly on continuous and joint assessment of the subject:

1) Students will undertake comprehensive readings of seminal texts on topics related to the subject as preparation for participation in formal discussion sessions. These texts will be made available to students via the virtual campus one week before the joint discussion class.

2) The teacher will provide theoretical explanations about key points of the subject syllabus.

3) Under the teacher's supervision, the students will choose one topic from the syllabus and give a group oral presentation about it.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Comment, expose texts 45 1.8 13, 7, 2, 11, 12, 9, 8, 20, 16, 1, 17, 18, 3
Type: Supervised      
Readings of texts and other writings 20 0.8 4, 19, 15, 12, 5, 14, 10, 6, 18
Type: Autonomous      
Classes, explanation of texts 70 2.8 9, 8, 14, 16, 1, 3

Assessment

- The assessment process comprises three activities spread across the year: Exam (50%), Essay (40%), Oral presentation (10%).

- The virtual campus will be used to prepare the readings discussed in class.

- Prior to each assessment, the teacher will inform students (via Moodle to create an official record) of the results review procedure and date.

- Students who do not obtain the average pass grade for the subject will have to resit the exam, otherwise they will fail the subject. To be able to resit the exam, students must have already undertaken assessments equivalent to a weight of at least two thirds of the overall grade, and they must have obtained a minimum average grade of 3.5 for the subject.

- Not Assessable: Students who do not undertake any of the assessments will obtain a "Not Assessable".

- In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity,
regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

- In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Essay 40% 2 0.08 7, 2, 11, 9, 8, 20, 16, 1, 17, 3
Exam 50% 7 0.28 4, 13, 19, 15, 12, 5, 14, 16, 10, 6, 18, 3
Oral presentation 10% 6 0.24 4, 13, 19, 15, 12, 5, 14, 16, 10, 6, 18, 3

Bibliography

Adorno, T. (2007). Dialéctica de la Ilustración. Madrid: Akal.

Arendt, H. (2005). La condición humana. Barcelona: Paidós.

Berlin, I. (2001). Dos conceptos de libertad y otros escritos. Madrid: Alianza.

Brown, W. (2017). El pueblo sin atributos. Barcelona: Malpaso Ediciones.

Esposito, R. (2009). Comunidad, inmunidad, biopolítica. Barcelona: Herder.

Federici, S. (2010). Calibán y la Bruja. Mujeres, cuerpo y acumulación originaria. Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños.

Foucault, M. (1999). El orden del discurso. Barcelona: Tusquets.

Nietzsche, F. (2016). Así habló Zaratustra. Madrid: Alianza.

Rancière, J. (2014). El método de la igualdad. Buenos Aires: Nueva Visión.

Rawls, J. (2006). Teoría de la Justicia. México: Fondo de Cultura económica.

Segato R. (2014). Ciudad Juárez. Territorio, soberanía y crímenes de segundo estado. Buenos Aires: Tinta Limón.

Segato, R. (2016). La guerra contra las mujeres. Madrid: Traficantes de sueños.

Walzer, M. (2004). Razón, política, pasión. 3 defectos del liberalismo. Madrid: Antonio Machado Libros.

Weber, M. (2015). La ética protestante y el espíritu del capitalismo. Madrid: Akal.