Practical Philosophy
Code: 100291 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year | Semester |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2500246 Philosophy | FB | 1 | 2 |
Contact
- Name:
- Daniel Gamper Sachse
- Email:
- daniel.gamper@uab.cat
Use of Languages
- Principal working language:
- catalan (cat)
- Some groups entirely in English:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Catalan:
- No
- Some groups entirely in Spanish:
- No
Other comments on languages
Prof. Gómez will teach in Spanish.Teachers
- Irene Gomez Franco
Prerequisites
It is recommended that students have knowledge of English and French to access directly to some of the bibliographic sources that will be analysed throughout the course.
Objectives and Contextualisation
Practical philosophy places special emphasis on the practical and applied dimension of philosophy and, secondly, on its relations with other disciplines. Broadly speaking, it focuses on values, norms, the behaviour of individuals and the role of institutions in political communities.
The specific aim of the subject is to provide students with the analytical tools and basic knowledge of different theoretical frameworks, so that they can respond in depth and critically to some elementary questions of practical thinking. The fields in which we will focus in particular are morality (moral philosophy and applied ethics) and politics (political philosophy), although we will deal transversally with some problems involving questions related to law, the theory of human rationality and the philosophy of economics.
Through the reading and analysis of classical and contemporary texts, students will become familiar with the central problems and questions that have dominated the discourse of practical philosophy since its origins. Concrete cases and ethical dilemmas will also be dealt with to illustrate the contents and strengthen critical examination. Furthermore, the course prepares students to orient themselves in the history of political philosophy and moral philosophy and to study the texts independently.
Competences
- Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic valurs.
- Act within one's own area of knowledge, evaluating sex/gender-based inequalities.
- Recognising and interpreting topics and problems of philosophy in its various disciplines.
- 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 develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- 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.
- Thinking in a critical and independent manner on the basis of the specific topics, debates and problems of philosophy, both historically and conceptually.
Learning Outcomes
- Arguing about several issues and philosophical problems for the purpose of different works and the assessment of the results.
- Assess the impact of the difficulties, prejudices and discriminations that actions or projects may involve, in the short or long term, in relation to certain persons or groups.
- Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
- Correctly drawing up a previously analysed non-regulatory text.
- Critically analyse the principles, values and procedures the govern professional practice.
- Demonstrating a personal stance over a problem or controversy of philosophical nature, or a work of philosophical research.
- Distinguishing and analysing representative texts of the main genres of the philosophical literature.
- Distinguishing the topics of philosophical relevance in current debates.
- Establishing relationships between science, philosophy, art, religion, politics, etc.
- Explain the code of practice, whether explicit or implicit, in one's own area of knowledge.
- Expressing both orally and in written form, the issues and basic problems of the philosophical tradition.
- Identify the principal sex-/gender-based inequalities and discriminations present in society.
- Organizing their own time and work resources: designing plans with priorities of objectives, calendars and action commitments.
- Relating several ideas of the current philosophical debates.
- Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
- Summarizing the main arguments of the analysed philosophical texts.
- Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.
Content
1. Ethics and politics
2. Equality
3. Freedom
4. Justice
Methodology
It is mandatory that students come to class with the texts, which will be indicated throughout the course, read, given that the lectures in class presuppose knowledge of them. However, some of the texts will be worked on directly in class. On this way, the lecture sessions will be combined with a seminar-type part and an argued debate in class.
We will use moodle to share materials and post grades.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Activities
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Lectures and orientation in reading texts | 46.5 | 1.86 | 5, 1, 6, 8, 7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 2 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Office tutoring | 22.5 | 0.9 | 5, 1, 3, 6, 10, 11, 13, 15, 16 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Reading and elaboration of the evaluation assignments | 75 | 3 | 5, 1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 17, 13, 15, 4, 16 |
Assessment
The evaluation of the course will consist of 3 tests (each of which constitutes 1/3 of the final mark), which will take place throughout the course.
1. Examination. In the exam, it will be necessary to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the contents worked on in the classes and of the compulsory readings, as well as the capacity for analysis and critical reflection (1-2).
2. Examination. In the exam, it will be necessary to demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the contents worked on in the classes and of the compulsory readings, as well as the capacity for analysis and critical reflection (3-4).
3. A paper on a topic in Practical Philosophy (max. 1.500 words).
The dates of the tests will be published on moodle. There will be an individual revision of each test if the student requests it.
The correctness of the exposition, the quality of the writing, the argumentation, the solidity of the thesis defended and the knowledge of the evaluated contents will be assessed. The contents of the lectures and the readings of the texts carried out in the classroom and independently will be assessed.
The final mark will take into consideration the student's improvement throughout the course.
When a student has not taken any of the tests, or has only taken one of them, he/she will be considered "not evaluable".
In the case of plagiarism in any of the tests, this will result in a failure in the whole subject, with no possibility of a 'second-chance' examination.
In the event that the student carries out any type of irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of a given evaluation act, this will be graded 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may result from it. In the event that several irregularities are verified in the assessment acts of the same subject, the final grade for this subject will be 0.
If the tests cannot be taken in person, their format will be adapted (without altering their weighting) to the possibilities offered by the UAB's virtual tools. Homework, activities and class participationwill be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussions of exercises through Teams, etc. The professor will ensure that students have access to these resources or will offer them alternative resourcesthat are available to them.
Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Exam | 33,3% | 2 | 0.08 | 5, 1, 6, 8, 11, 17, 14 |
| 2. Exam | 33,3% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 17, 13, 15, 4, 16 |
| 3. Writing a paper | 33,3% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 6, 8, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 14, 16, 2 |
Bibliography
SUBJECT 1:
PLato, Republic
Aristotle, Politics
SUBJECT 2:
Hobbes, Leviathan
Rousseau, The Social Contract
SUBJECT 3:
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Freedom
Hannah Arendt, The Crisis of the Republic
Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition
SUBJECT 4:
John Rawls, A Theory of Justice
Amartya Sen, The Idea of Justice
Martha Nussbaum, The Frontiers of Justice
Thomas Nagel, 'The Problem of Global Justice', Philosophy & Public Affairs. (Spring, 2005)
Other:
Victòria Camps, Breve historia de la ética (RBA)
Victòria Camps (ed.), Historia de la ética (Crítica)
Fernando Vallespín, Historia de la Teoría Política (Alianza)
Peter Singer (ed.), Compendio de Ética (Alianza)
Software
Not applicable