Ethics and Political Philosophy Seminar
Code: 100289 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | OT | 3 |
| Philosophy | OT | 4 |
Contact
- Name:
- Jesus Hernandez Reynes
- Email:
- jesus.hernandez@uab.cat
Teachers
- Jesus Hernandez Reynes
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
Prerequisites
There are no prerequisites for this course
Objectives and Contextualisation
Ancient Cynicism and the Contemporary Philosophical Struggle.
In this 2025-2026 academic year, the Seminar on Ethics and Political Philosophy will have two parts: one, dedicated to ancient cynicism; the other, focused on contemporary theoretical struggle.
Competences
- Philosophy
- Analysing and summarising the main arguments of fundamental texts of philosophy in its various disciplines.
- 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 develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
- 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
- Accurately drawing up normative texts.
- Carrying out a planning for the development of a subject-related work.
- Correctly, accurately and clearly communicating the acquired philosophical knowledge in oral and written form.
- Demonstrating a personal stance over a problem or controversy of philosophical nature, or a work of philosophical research.
- Developing self-learning strategies.
- Discriminating the features that define the writer's place in the context of a problem and reorganising them in a consistent diagram.
- Distinguishing and outlining the fundamental content of a philosophical text.
- Recognising, with a critical eye, philosophical referents of the past and present and assessing its importance.
Content
Ancient Cynicism and the Contemporary Philosophical Struggle.
The course connects two blocks of ethical and political philosophy that are different in time and style of thought, focused on forms of resistance against the established order. One blog treats ancient cynicism as an anti-civic practice. The other block addresses resistance through the theoretical critique of the dominant ideology, denaturalizing power and its mechanisms
Part on ancient cynicism:
- Cynicism in its Greek origins.
- Sophistry and the question of the phýsis/nómos opposition.
- Socrates and the option for civic spirit.
- The role of Antisthenes in cynicism.
- Minimum life vs. opulent life.
- Law and justice.
- Active life.
- Autarky and freedom.
- Truth against science. The actor as an archetype.
Part on contemporary theoretical struggle:
- Historical dialectics in Hegel: epistemology and politics
- The opposition idealism /materialism: dialectical materialism in Marx.
- Marxism and humanism: Marx's theoretical antihumanism.
- Imaginary/ideology: a pertinent distinction.
- The concept of surplus value: a theoretical science of practical life.
- The reproductive function of the State: repressive and ideological apparatuses.
- Ideological mechanisms: interpellation as subjects
Activities and Methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type: Directed | |||
| classes | 30 | 1.2 | 6, 8 |
| Lectures | 15 | 0.6 | 5, 6, 7, 2, 8 |
| Type: Supervised | |||
| tutorship | 15 | 0.6 | 3, 1, 5 |
| Type: Autonomous | |||
| Readings and studies | 75 | 3 | 3, 1, 2 |
The classes consist of the reading and discussion of the appropriate texts. Interventions by the teacher and the participating students are planned.
The class dynamics make it necessary to read the texts outside of classroom hours that will later be treated.
15 minutes of a class will be reserved, within the calendar established by the centre/degree, for the complementation by the students of the surveys of evaluation of the performance of the teaching staff and the evaluation of the subject" in order to remind the teaching staff of the need to promote the surveys among the students.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class participation | 20% | 12 | 0.48 | 4, 5, 7, 2 |
| 1rst test | 40% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 3, 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 |
| 2ond test | 40% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 3, 1, 5, 6, 8 |
This subject does not provide for the single assessment system.
The evaluation will be done on two exams, with a value of 40% each, and on participation and attendance in class, with a value of 20%. On the date established by the Dean's Office, the exams will be retaken through a final exam, with a weighted value of 80%. Participation is not recoverable.
The evaluation of all activities will be reviewed individually in the teacher's office, on the date that will be announced in due course through the Virtual Campus.
To take the retake exam, you must have taken at least one exam and attended the seminar sessions. The final grade is the weighted average of all the activities evaluated.
Students who do not attend a minimum of assessment activities that represent 2/3 of the relative weight are considered non-assessed.
It is possible that the Department of Philosophy will establish (as it has done during the first semester) a period of concentration of evaluative tests. The teaching staff will indicate if there is this period or what the dates of the tests are at the beginning of each subject.
In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is allowed as an integral part of the development of the work, provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution of the student in the analysis and personal reflection. The student will have to: (i) identify which parts have been generated with AI; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and the final result of the activity. Lack of transparency in the use of AI in this assessable activity will be considered a lack of academic honesty and will result in the activity being evaluated with a 0 and not being able to be recovered, or greater penalties in cases of seriousness
In the event that the student makes any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade of an evaluation act, this evaluation act will be graded with 0, regardless of the disciplinary process that may be instructed. If there are several irregularities in the evaluation acts of the same subject, the final grade of this subject will be 0.
Bibliography
Primary source of the part on cynicism
Giannantoni, Gabriele. 1990. Socratis et Socraticorum Reliquiae, 4 vols. Nàpols: Bibliopolis. També disponible en línia: http://socratics-documentation.ancientsource.daphnet.iliesi.cnr.it/en/edition.html
Translations of texts about the Cynics
* Martín García, José Antonio (ed.). 2008. Los filósofos cínicos y la literatura moral serioburlesca, 2 vols. Madrid: Akal.
Diògenes Laerci. 1998. Vides dels filòsofs. 2 vols. Barcelona: Laia.
Diógenes Laercio. 2013. Vidas de los filósofos ilustres. Madrid: Alianza.
Dión De Prusa. 1988. Discursos I-XI. Madrid: Gredos. En especial, discursos 4, 6-10.
Dobbin, Robert. 2012. The Cynic Philosophers: from Diogenes to Julian. Londres: Penguin Books.
Epicteto. 1993. Disertaciones por Arriano. Madrid: Gredos. En especial, llibre III, cap. 22.
Hard, Robin. 2012. Diogenes the Cynic. Sayings and Anecdotes with other Popular Moralists. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Juliano. 1981. Discursos VI-XII. Madrid: Gredos. En especial, discursos 7 i 9.
Luciano De Samósata. 2010. Diálogos cínicos. Madrid: Alianza.
Paquet, Léonce. 2000. Les Cyniques grecs. Fragments et témoignages. Ottawa: Les Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa.
Studies on ancient cynics and cynicism
* Bracht Branham, Robert i Marie-Odile Goulet-Cazé (coord.). 2020. Los cínicos: el movimiento cínico en la antigüedad y su legado. Barcelona: Ariel.
Casadesús, Francesc. 2008. Diógenes Laercio VI 20-21: “¿En qué consistió la falsificación de la moneda (to nomisma paracharattein) de Diógenes de Sinope?”, Δαιμων. Revista de Filosofía, suplemento 2, 297-309.
Desmond, William. 2008. Cynics. Berkeley i Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Desmond, William. 2006. The Greek Praise of Poverty. Origins of Ancient Cynicism. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press.
Downing, Francis Gerald. 1992. Cynics and Christian Origins. Edinburgh: T & T Clark.
Dudley, Donald R. 1998. A History of Cynicism from Diogenes to the 6th Century A.D., 2nd ed. with a foreword and bibliography by Miriam Griffin, Bristol: Bristol Classical Paperbacks. Accessible on-line l’edició de 1937 http://archive.org/details/historyofcynicis032872mbp
Foucault, Michel. 2004. Discurso y verdad en la Antigua Grecia. Buenos Aires: Paidós. L’edició anglesa original és consultable en línia: http://foucault.info/documents/parrhesia/
Foucault, Michel. 2010. El coraje de la verdad. El gobierno de sí y de los otros II. Curso en el College de France (1983-1984). Buenos Aires: FCE.
Freitas De Sousa, Juan Horacio de. 2012. “El cinismo: Un elogio a la desvergüenza”. Bajo palabra. Revista de Filosofía, II Época, Nº 7: 301-311.
Fuentes González, Pedro Pablo. 2002. “El atajo filosófico de los cínicos antiguos hacia la felicidad”, Cuadernos de Filología Clásica: Estudios griegos e indoeuropeos, Vol. 12, 203-251.
Fuentes González, Pedro Pablo. 2003. “¿Necesitaban de un amigo los cínicos antiguos?”, Bitarte 31, p. 51-72.
García Gual, Carlos. 2014. La secta del perro. Vidas de filósofos cínicos de Diógenes Laercio. Madrid: Alianza.
Garrigasait, Raül. 2014. El gos cosmopolita i dos espècimens més. Barcelona: Edicions de 1984.
Goulet-Cazé, Marie-Odile. 2000. “Cinismo”. En Jacques Brunschwig, Geoffrey Lloyd. Diccionario Akal de El saber griego. Madrid: Akal, 650-659.
Goulet-Cazé, Marie-Odile. 2005. « Le cynisme ancien et la sexualité », en CLIO. Histoire, femmes et sociétés [En línia], 22 | 2005, publicat en línia el 1 de desembre de 2007. URL : http://clio.revues.org/1725 ; DOI: 10.4000/clio.1725
Goulet-Cazé, Marie-Odile i Richard Goulet (dir.). 1993. Le cynisme ancien et ses prolongements, Actes du colloque international du C.N.R.S. (Paris, 22-25 juillet 1991). París : Presses Universitaires de France.
Infante, Eduardo. 2021. No me tapes el sol. Cómo ser un cínico de los Buenos. Barcelona: Ariel.
Laursen, John Christian. 2009. “Cynicism Then and Now”, Iris, I, p. 469-482.
Lovejoy, Arthur O. i George Boas. 1935. Primitivism and related Ideas in Antiquity, vol.1, Baltimore: John Hopkins Press.
Navia, Luis E. 1996. Classical Cynicism: A Critical Study. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
Navia, Luis E. 2005. Diogenes the Cynic. Nova York: Humanity Books.
Niehues-Pröbsting, Heinrich. 1979. Der Kynismus des Diogenes und der Begriff des Zynismus. Munich: Wilhelm Fink.
Onfray, Michel. 2002. Cinismos. Retrato de los filósofos llamados perros. Buenos Aires: Paidós.
Shea, Louisa. 2010. The Cynic Enlightenment. Diogenes in the Salon. Baltimor: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sloterdijk, Peter. 2003. Crítica de la razón cínica. Madrid: Siruela.
Main sources of contemporary theoretical struggle
Althusser, Louis, 1968, Marxismo y humanisme (1964), en Por Marx, Traducció Valentín García Yebra, México: S.XXI
- 1969, “El objeto del Capital” (1965) en Para leer El Capital, en México: S.XXI
- 1977, “Ideologia i aparells ideològics de l’Estat” (1970) en Posiciones. Traducción Albert Roies,Barcelona: Anagrama.
Hegel. 1947 (1 ed.). Fenomenologia del espíritu (1807) Trad. Wenceslao Roces. México: FCE. Especialment apartats de l’autoconciència i l’esperit.
- 2000. Fenomenologia del espíritu (1807) Traducción Pedro Ribas. Madrid: Tecnos.
- 2015. Ciencia de la lògica (1807) Traducción y prólogo Félix Duque, 2015. Concretament introducció i “La doctrina del concepto” Volum II.
Marx, Karl. 1946 (1a ed.). El Capital (1867) Traducción y prólogo Wenceslao Roces. México: FCE. Concretament llibre I, amb especial cura capítols 6-9.
- 1971. El Capital (1867) Traducción y notes Manuel Sacristán. México: FCE. Idem.
Studies on contemporary theoretical struggle
Althusser, Louis. 1994. L’internationale des bons sentiments (1946) en Escrits philosophiques et polítiques. Paris: Stock/IMEC.
(1996) Escritos sobre psicoanàlisis: Freud y Lacan. Mexico: Siglo XXI.
Aristòtil. 1994. Política, Traducción, introducción y notes de Manuela García Valdés. Madrid: Gredos. Concretament llibre I, capítol 8 i 9 (1256-1258b)
Hyppolite, Jean. 1974. Gènesi i estructura de la Fenomenologia de l’esperit de Hegel (1946). Traducció de Francisco Fernández Buey, Barcelona: Península.
- Études sur Marx et Hegel, PUF, 1969.
Lacan, Jacques. 1957. “La instancia de la letra en el inconsciente o la razón después de Freud” en Escrits I (1966). Traducción Tomás Segovia. Ciudad de México: Siglo XXI.
Software
Not applicable.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (SEM) Seminars | 11 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (SEM) Seminars | 12 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |