PHV346 Early Modern Philosophy: Reading

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2024
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Daniel Špelda, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Daniel Špelda, Ph.D.
Department of Philosophy – Faculty of Arts
Supplier department: Department of Philosophy – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 12:00–13:40 A.115, except Thu 18. 4.
Prerequisites
! PH02V014 Interpretive Seminar XIV
PHBD4
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 27 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
The course focuses on reading selected texts of early modern philosophy. The aim of the reading is to understand the original intentions and motivation of the authors based on an analysis of the text itself and taking careful account of the contemporary intellectual and cultural context. The subject of reading are the texts of authors such as Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Malebranche, or Pascal.
Learning outcomes
After completing the course, the student will be able to introduce the main concepts of selected texts; to explain their basic problems; to formulate their assumptions and consequences; to reconstruct and to evaluate their arguments; to show their dependency on context; to characterize their historical conditionality.
Syllabus
  • 1. Bacon, New organon
  • 2. Descartes, Discourse on the Method
  • 3. Fontenelle, Digression
Literature
  • ČÍŽEK, Jan. Komenský a Bacon : dvě raně novověké cesty k obnově vědění. Červený Kostelec: Pavel Mervart, 2017, 214 stran. ISBN 9788074652653. info
  • A companion to Descartes. Edited by Janet Broughton - John Peter Carriero. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, a John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Publication, 2011, xvi, 542. ISBN 9781405121545. info
  • RÖD, Wolfgang. Novověká filosofie. Translated by Jindřich Karásek. Vyd. 1. Praha: Oikoymenh, 2002, 383 s. ISBN 80-7298-039-4. info
  • The Cambridge companion to Rousseau. Edited by Patrick Riley. 1st publ. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001, xii, 453. ISBN 0521576156. info
  • The Cambridge companion to Bacon. Edited by Markku Peltonen. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996, xv, 372. ISBN 052143498X. info
  • The Cambridge companion to Descartes. Edited by John Cottingham. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, xii, 441. ISBN 0521366968. info
Teaching methods
reading; discussion
Assessment methods
Seminar papers or active participation in class. Active participation does not mean merely being passively present in the classroom, but engaging in discussions. To receive credit, a student must be actively present in at least ten seminars during the semester. In the event that a student is unable to participate actively in the seminars to the extent indicated, he/she will write a comprehensive seminar paper in which he/she attempts an independent interpretation of selected portions of each of the texts discussed. The minimum length of the paper (15 pages, 1.5 lines, A4 format): each text (Bacon, Descartes, Fontenelle) will be given a minimum of 5 pages, using high quality and representative foreign secondary literature (at least 10 foreign sources will be cited in the paper).
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught once in two years.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/spring2024/PHV346