Practical Philosophy
Code: 100291 ECTS Credits: 6| Degree | Type | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | FB | 1 |
Contact
- Name:
- Daniel Gamper Sachse
- Email:
- daniel.gamper@uab.cat
Teaching groups languages
You can view this information at the end of this document.
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 is the philosophical study of politics and ethics. Broadly speaking, it focuses on values, norms, the behaviors of individuals, and the role of institutions in social and political communities.
The specific objective of the course is to provide students with the analytical tools and basic knowledge of different theoretical frameworks, so that they can respond with depth and critical spirit to some elementary questions of practical thinking. The fields in which we will situate ourselves are political philosophy and ethics.
From the reading and analysis of classical and contemporary texts, students will become familiar with the central problems and questions of practical philosophy from its origins. Concrete cases and ethical dilemmas will also be treated to illustrate the contents and strengthen critical examination. The course enables students to orient themselves in the history of practical philosophy so that they can analyze philosophical texts autonomously.
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
-
Justice: Plato - The Republic
2. Citizenship: Aristotle - Politics
3. Politics: Machiavelli - The Prince
4. State: Hobbes - Leviathan
5. Property: Locke - Second Treatise of Government
6. Soverignty: Rousseau - Social contract
7. Questions in practical philosophy
Activities and Methodology
| 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 |
It is mandatory for students to read the texts to be discussed in class beforehand. The course will combine lecture-based sessions with seminar-style discussions, as well as sessions following a flipped classroom format. For the third assessment, academic tutoring will also be employed as a teaching method.
We will use moodle to share materials and post grades.
Note: "15 minutes of a class will be reserved, within the timetable established by the
centre/title, for the complementation by the students of the assessment surveys of
the teaching staff's performance and the assessment of the subject".
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Exam | 25% | 2 | 0.08 | 5, 1, 6, 8, 11, 17, 14 |
| 2. Exam | 25% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 3, 6, 9, 11, 17, 13, 15, 4, 16 |
| 3.Essay | 50% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 6, 8, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 14, 16, 2 |
The evaluation of the course will consist of 3 tests.
1. Exam. In the exam it will be necessary to demonstrate a sufficient knowledge of the contents worked in the classes and of the obligatory readings, as well as capacity of analysis and critical reflection (Topics 1-2).
2. Exam. In the exam it will be necessary to demonstrate a sufficient knowledge of the contents worked in the classes and of the obligatory readings, as well as capacity of analysis and critical reflection (Topics 4-6).
3. Essay. At the beginning of the course, the topic for the essay must be agreed upon. A first draft of the essay must be submitted halfway through the course, and at least one tutoring session must be held. At the end of the course, the final version of the essay—five pages in length (Topic 7)—must be submitted. This will account for 50% of the final grade.
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.
Enrolled students will be able to recover, on the date established by the Faculty, the tests that they have either failed or have not taken.
On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date onwhich such a review will take place.
Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items.
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.
This subject allows the use of AI technologies exclusively for support tasks such as [bibliographic or content-based searches]. The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
Bibliography
Plato, Republic
Aristotle, Politics
Machiavelli, The Prince
Hobbes, Leviathan
Locke, Second Treatise of Government
Rousseau, Discurs sobre l’origen i les causes de la desigualtat entre els homes; The Social Contract
Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals
(Regarding the editions of the books, since they are classics, there are various reliable paperback editions available at reasonable prices. Numerous copies of these works can also be found at the UAB library and in the libraries of the Diputació. The editions by Gredos, Alianza, Tecnos, Edicions 62, Bernat Metge, and Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona are especially recommended. There are also excellent editions available in English, French, Italian, and German. Additionally, online versions of these classical texts exist. These should be reviewed carefully to ensure they are reasonably accurate.)
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)
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 | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | second semester | morning-mixed |