Major Topics in Philosophy
Code: 100219 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Musicology | FB | 1 |
| History | FB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Marta Tafalla Gonzalez
- Email:
- marta.tafalla@uab.cat
Teachers
- Núria Estrach Mira
- Marta Tafalla Gonzalez
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
None.
Objectives and Contextualisation
This course seeks to provide an introduction to the central themes and debates in the history of thought.
Competences
- Musicology
- 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.
- History
- Developing critical thinking and reasoning and communicating them effectively both in your own and other languages.
- 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 in order 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.
Learning Outcomes
- Arguing about several issues and philosophical problems for the purpose of different works and the assessment of the results.
- Arguing about several subjects and philosophical problems for the purpose of different works and assessing the results.
- Correctly, accurately and clearly communicating the acquired philosophical knowledge in oral and written form.
- Distinguishing some representative texts from the main genres of the philosophical literature.
- Distinguishing some representative texts of the main genres of the philosophical literature.
- Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
- Establishing relationships between science, philosophy, art, religion, politics, etc.
- Identifying normative, stylistic or argumentative errors in a text.
- Organizing their own time and work resources: designing plans with priorities of objectives, calendars and action commitments.
- Organizing their own time and work resources: designing plans with priorities of objectives, schedules and action commitments.
- Rewriting the stance of a typical philosophical author in a clear and precise manner.
- Summarizing the main arguments of the analysed philosophical texts.
Content
The course is divided into four sections, grouped into two main blocks.
The first block, covering Sections 1 to 3, offers a general overview of the major debates in the history of thought.
The second block, comprising Section 4, focuses on contemporary philosophical debates, analyzed using the conceptual tools introduced in the first block.
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| Master Classes | 35 | 1.4 | 5, 7 |
| Seminars | 11 | 0.44 | 11 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| Tutorials | 22 | 0.88 | 6 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Readings from the recommended bibliography | 44 | 1.76 | 5, 7 |
| Study/Case resolution | 31 | 1.24 | 3, 6 |
The course methodology combines theoretical presentations by the lecturer with participatory seminar-style activities.
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.
Assessment
Continous Assessment Activities
| Title | Weighting | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple choice test 1 | 33,3% | 2.5 | 0.1 | 3, 7, 11 |
| Multiple choice test 2 | 33,3% | 2.5 | 0.1 | 3, 7, 11 |
| Short answers test or oral presentation | 33,3% | 2 | 0.08 | 2, 1, 3, 5, 4, 7, 6, 8, 10, 9, 11, 12 |
The assessment will consist of three components.
Two of them will be individual written tests with short-answer questions or equivalent formats (e.g., multiple-choice). The third component must be different in format, such as a take-home exam to be submitted within 48 hours or an oral presentation. The first test will assess Units 1 and 2, the second will assess Unit 3, and the third will assess Unit 4. Each test will be administered upon completion of the corresponding content.
Each assessment will be worth a maximum of 10 points. To pass the course, students must achieve an overall average of at least 5 points, calculated as the mean of the three scores: (P1 + P2 + P3) / 3. Completion of all three assessments is mandatory to pass the course.
For oral presentations, a minimum of three students per group is recommended. Presentations may last up to 15 minutes and will replace lecture sessions.
A maximum of three days will be set aside for these presentations.
On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
Reevaluation:
Students who fail one or more of the tests, or who wish to improve their grades, may either retake the specific tests they did not pass or a single multiple-choice exam covering all parts of the course.
To be eligible for reassessment, a student must have taken at least two of the three original assessments.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
If a student engages in any form of academic misconduct that could significantly affect the grade of any assessment activity, that activity will automatically receive a score of 0, regardless of any further disciplinary actions. If multiple instances of academic misconduct are confirmed in assessments for the same course, the final course grade will be 0.
Single Assessment Option
The single assessment will consist of one written exam with three parts:
a) Multiple-choice questions covering the first part of the course (33.3%)
b) Multiple-choice questions covering the second part (33.3%)
c) A short essay based on the course content (33.3%)
The reassessment of the single assessment will follow the same format as the original single assessment exam.
During the course, the lecturer will indicate whether the use of AI is permitted in the different course activities and, if so, under what conditions.
Bibliography
This bibliography presents some of the books that are used in class for specific questions, none of them does the "manual" function to be able to follow the whole subject.
Bréhier, Émile (1998) Història de la filosofia i de la ciència. Madrid: Tecnos.
Copleston, Frederick (2001) Manual de Filosofía, 9 Vol. Barcelona: Ariel.
Federici, Silvia (2004) Calibán y la bruja. Madrid: Traficantes de Sueños.
Ferrater Mora, Josep (1981) Diccionario de Filosofía, 4 Vol. Madrid: Alianza.
Geymonat, Ludovico (1998) Història de la filosofia i de la ciència. Barcelona: Crítica.
Jaspers, K. (1993) Introducció a la Filosofia. Barcelona: Edicions 62.
Rowlands, M. (2009) El filósofo y el lobo, Barcelona: Seix Barral.
Reale, Giovanni et al. (1988) Historia del pensamiento filosófico y científico, 3 Vol. Barcelona: Herder.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. <https://plato.stanford.edu/>
Terricabras, J. M, coor. (2001) El pensament filosòfic i científic. I i II. Barcelona: Pòrtic
Volpi, Franco (2005) Enciclopedia de obras de filosofía, Barcelona: Herder.
Weston, A. (1994) Las claves de la argumentación. Barcelona: Ariel
Software
No specific software required.
Groups and Languages
Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.
| Name | Group | Language | Semester | Turn |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 2 | Spanish | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 3 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 2 | Spanish | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 3 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |