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Modern Philosophy

Code: 100310 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Philosophy OB 2

Contact

Name:
Alejandro Mumbrú Mora
Email:
alejandro.mumbru@uab.cat

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

None.


Objectives and Contextualisation

By Early Modern Philosophy we refer to the body of philosophical thought produced in the Western world following the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, which does not reject the new concept of law discovered by science in nature. The religious wars give way to a period of relative peace marked by the consolidation of nation-states and the establishment of national churches. At the same time, the Galilean revolution enables the conception of an eternal law no longer grounded in biblical revelation, but in the mathematization of nature. The grand naturalistic rhetoric of the Renaissance fades away.

Descartes’ work inaugurates a new era in philosophy. Whereas Renaissance thought centered on the human figure as the ultimate purpose of divine creation, Descartes introduces a subject derived through purely rational deduction. Philosophy, moreover, begins to be expressed in national languages. The ambitious effort to recover a metaphysics no longer subordinated to theological revelation reaches a turning point—one that is aligned with the new, non-Aristotelian conception of causality introduced by modern science.

In this context, Spinoza’s vision of a single, unique substance and Leibniz’s conception of an infinite multiplicity of substances pave the way for the critical project of reason that would define the philosophy of the following century.


Competences

  • Act within one's own area of knowledge, evaluating sex/gender-based inequalities.
  • Analysing and summarising the main arguments of fundamental texts of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • Placing the most representative philosophical ideas and arguments of a period in their historical background and relating the most important authors of each period of any philosophical discipline.
  • Recognising and interpreting topics and problems of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • 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.
  • Using the symbology and procedures of the formal sciences in the analysis and building of arguments.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Accurately using the specific lexicon of the history of philosophy.
  2. Analyse the sex-/gender-based inequalities and gender bias in one's own area of knowledge.
  3. Arguing about several issues and philosophical problems for the purpose of different works and the assessment of the results.
  4. Assess how stereotypes and gender roles impact professional practice.
  5. Carrying out a planning for the development of a subject-related work.
  6. Demonstrating a personal stance over a problem or controversy of philosophical nature, or a work of philosophical research.
  7. Discriminating the features that define the writer's place in the context of a problem and reorganising them in a consistent diagram.
  8. Distinguishing and outlining the fundamental content of a philosophical text.
  9. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  10. Establishing relationships between science, philosophy, art, religion, politics, etc.
  11. Explaining the specific notions of the History of Philosophy.
  12. Expressing both orally and in written form, the issues and basic problems of the philosophical tradition.
  13. Indicating and discussing the main characteristics of the distinctive thought of a period and contextualizing them.
  14. Indicating the main issues of the history of philosophy.
  15. Reading basic philosophical text thoroughly.
  16. Reading thoroughly philosophical texts of the History of Philosophy.
  17. Relating the various orders of the philosophical ideas of different authors and historical moments.
  18. Rigorously building philosophical arguments.
  19. Solving problems autonomously.
  20. Submitting works in accordance with both individual and small group demands and personal styles.
  21. Summarising the topics and arguments exposed in a classical philosophical debate.
  22. Using suitable terminology when drawing up an academic text.

Content

1. General remarks on Early Modern Philosophy 

2. Descartes

3. The XVIIth century and the reception of Cartesian philosophy: rationalism and empiricism

4. Rationalism: Spinoza and Leibniz

5. Margaret Cavendish

6. Empiricism in Historical and Philosophical Perspective


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Classroom sessions 50 2 12, 15
Type: Supervised      
Supervised Individual Assignments 30 1.2 3, 10, 5, 12, 9, 22, 14, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 1
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous individual work 50 2 7, 8, 10, 5, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 1

The course is structured around the professor’s lectures, which are complemented by open spaces for questions and discussion, encouraging active student participation.

Students work based on the material presented in class and the recommended bibliography, which serves as a foundation for further exploration of the topics covered.

Through personalised guidance, students may raise questions, request clarifications, or ask for suggestions to expand the bibliography or delve deeper into specific aspects of the syllabus.

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
Assignment 25% 6 0.24 2, 3, 18, 6, 7, 8, 10, 5, 11, 12, 9, 22, 14, 13, 15, 16, 20, 17, 19, 21, 1, 4
Final exam 45% 8 0.32 3, 18, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 9, 22, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, 1
Partial Exam 30% 6 0.24 3, 18, 8, 10, 11, 9, 22, 14, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21, 1

CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT

The assessment for this course will consist of the submission of a paper (25%), a midterm exam (30%), and a final exam (45%). The format of the paper and the dates of the exams will be announced at the beginning of the course.

No papers will be accepted after the established deadline. Any indication of plagiarism will result in a grade of 0 for the corresponding activity.

To be eligible for the resit exam, students must have been assessed in at least two-thirds of the evaluative components.

 

SINGLE ASSESSMENT

The assessment for this course will consist of the submission of a paper (30%) and two written exercises (45% + 25%). The format of the assignments and the exam date will be announced at the beginning of the course.

No papers will be accepted after the established deadline. Any indication of plagiarism will result in a grade of 0 for the corresponding activity.

 

The Department of Philosophy agreed that the first-semester students would have two periods dedicated to assessment activities and one week during which students could specifically prepare for the exams, in the format that each instructor will specify at the beginning of the course. The dates for the review week and the assessment periods are:

  • October 27 – October 31: review or tutorial week
  • November 3 – November 7: assessment week
  • January 8, 9, 12, 13, 14: assessment week
 

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 on which such a review will occur.

Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 1/3 of the assessment items. 

If 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 discussions on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students can access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

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.

 

USE OF AI

This subject allows the use of AI technologies as an integral part of the submitted work, provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution from the student in terms of analysis and personal reflection. 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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Primary Sources:

BERKELEY, George, Tratado sobre los principios del conocimiento humano, trad. C. Mellizo, Alianza editorial, Madrid, 1992. 

--- : Tres diálogos entre Hilas y Filonús, trad. G. L. Sastre, Espasa Calpe, Madrid, 1996.

CAVENDISH, Margaret, Philosophical Letters, or Modest Reflections Upon some Opinions in Natural Philosophy, 1664 (disponible en línia)

DESCARTES, René, Regles per a la direcció de l’enginy, trad. Salvi Turró, Barcelona, Edicions 62, 1998.

--- : Discurs del mètode, trad. Pere Lluís Font, Barcelona, Edicions 62, 1996.

---: Meditacions metafísiques, trad. Miquel Costa, Barcelona, Edicions 62, 2008.

--- : Libertad y generosidad. Textos morales, trad. i ed. Salvi Turró, ed. Proteus, 2010. 

HUME, David, Investigación sobre el entendimiento humano, ed. bilingüe, trad. V. Sanfélix y C. Ors, Madrid, ed. Istmo, 2004.

KANT, Immanuel, Crítica de la razón pura, trad. P. Ribas, ed. Alfaguara, Madrid, 1978.

LEIBNIZ, Gottfried Wilhelm, Meditaciones sobre el conocimiento, la verdad y las ideas, trad. Miguel Candel Sanmartín (versión hipertexto en http://www.ub.es/telemac)

--- : Discurs de metafísica; Monadologia, trad. JosepOlesti, Barcelona, Marbot ed., 2018. 

--- : Nous assaigs sobre l'enteniment humà, trad. Josep Olesti, Barcelona, ed. 62, 1997.  

LOCKE, John, Ensayo sobre elentendimiento humano, trad. Edmundo O’Gorman, FCE, México, 1999.

SPINOZA, Baruch, Tratado de la reforma del entendimiento, trad. Atilano Domínguez, Madrid, Alianza, 1988. 

--- : Ètica demostrada segons l’ordre geomètric, trad. J. Olesti, Marbot ed., Barcelona, 2013.

 

Secondary Sources:

AA.VV., Estudis cartesians, Societat Catalana de Filosofia, Barcelonesa d’Edicions, Barcelona, 1996.

AYER, Alfred J., Hume, Madrid, Alianza Editorial, 1980.

BELAVAL, Yvon (dir.), Historia de la filosofía, Siglo XXI, Madrid, 1974. Vol. 6: Racionalismo, empirismo e Ilustración.

CASSIRER, Ernst, El problema del conocimiento en la filosofía y en la ciencia modernas, México, FCE, 1979 (vol. I y II).

COTTINGHAM, John (ed.), The Cambridge companion to Descartes. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1992 (disponible en línia) 

DELEUZE, Gilles, Empirismo y subjetividad, ed. Gedisa, 1981. 

DUQUE, Félix, Historia de la Filosofía moderna: la era de la crítica, ed. Akal, 1998. 

DUSSEL, Enrique, 1492. El encubrimiento del otro. Hacia el origen del “mito de la modernidad”, Plural editores, La Paz, 1994. 

--- : El primer debate filosófico de la Modernidad, Clacso, 2020. 

FOUCAULT, Michel, Las palabras y las cosas. Una arqueología de las ciencias humanas, ed. Siglo XXI, 1968.  

GARRET, Don (ed.), The Cambridge companion to Spinoza. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1996 (disponible en línia).

HAZARD, Paul, La crisis de la conciencia europea, Madrid, Alianza, 1983.

--- : El pensamiento europeo en el siglo XVIII, Madrid, Alianza, 1985.

HEIDEGGER, Martin, “La era de la técnica” i “La época de la imagen del mundo” (Die Zeit des Weltbildes) en Caminos del bosque (Holzwege), trad. Helena Cortés y Arturo Leyte, Madrid, Alianza, 1995.

JOLLEY, Nicholas (ed.), The Cambridge companion to Leibniz. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995 (disponible en línia).

MARTÍNEZ MARZOA, Felipe, Historia de la filosofía, Madrid, ed. Istmo,1973 y 1994, (vol. II).

--- : Cálculo y ser (Aproximación a Leibniz), Madrid, Visor, 1991.

MILLS, Charles W., The Racial Contract, Cornell University Press, 1997.

MORRIS, Charles, Locke, Berkeley y Hume, Oxford University Press, 1987.

TURRÓ, Salvi, Descartes. Del hermetismo a la nueva ciencia, Barcelona, ed. Anthropos, 1987.

--- : Filosofia i Modernitat. La reconstrucció de l’ordre del món, Barcelona, Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona, 2016.

WALTERS, Lisa i SIEGFRIED, Brandie R., Margaret Cavendish: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2022 (disponible en línia).

  

Internet Resources:

- https://loliba.cat/ 

- http://www.philosophica.info/

-http://plato.stanford.edu 

-http://frank.mtsu.edu/~rbombard/RB/spinoza.new.html (Studia Spinoziana)

-www.leibniz.es

-http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/Berkeley/

-http://www.davidhume.org

 

 

 


Software

None


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
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan first semester morning-mixed