Germany

This course offers a systematic introduction to the central themes of the philosophy of mind. It is divided into three parts. The first part deals with fundamental problems. In addition to more traditional distinctions such as that between dualism and monism, newer empirical theories of consciousness and the conflicts that exist between them are also discussed. The second deals with methodological questions and central concepts such as emergence or supervenience. The third part deals with particularly important individual problems. This includes the problem of free will, theories of embodied and extended cognition, and questions of self-confidence. The lecture will fundamentally also take empirical findings from psychology and neuroscience into account.

Personal dedications in book copies from this author's library are examined as documents of literary history. The form, content and dating of each individual dedication must be contextualized through extensive research in order to find out to what extent they are documents of East-West German, transnational or GDR-internal relationship networks. In the first step, we explore the bibliophilic form and variety of dedications in the “turning library” comprising several shelves from the basement of Christa and Gerhard Wolf's Pankow apartment, which, after being donated and moved, is now located at the Christa and Gerhard Wolf private library work and research center. The second step is documentation and the third is an attempt at contemporary and literary-historical contextualization.

In this course, students practice writing simple texts and train grammar topics that are important for both casual and formal writing. The focus is on writing occasions from everyday private and student life (e.g. creative writing, notes, emails). Students also prepare a short essay at the end of the course. The grammar topics that are covered are based on the students' texts. Students' willingness to write short texts on a regular basis is therefore important.

In this course we will explore a wide range of alternative logical systems for modelling different phenomena. We will look at the semantics and proof theory for modal logics (the logic of possibility and necessity), intuitionistic logic (the logic of constructive mathematics), “gappy” logics (where some truth values are underdetermined), the logic of paradox (where paradoxes can be true without the logic being trivial), deontic logic (the logic of actions and obligations), and dynamic epistemic logic (logics for tracking our knowledge in a changing epistemic environment). For each we will look at the philosophical motivations and payoffs that the logic has, as well as strengths and weaknesses of the formalisation.

This course for foreign students is designed to improve students’ language skills and vocabulary. Areas of focus include grammar, conversation, writing exercises, and listening and reading exercises. In addition, excursions are planned to introduce students to German culture. Students work with cultural and historical topics on an academic level and broaden their intercultural knowledge. They are introduced to independent learning methods and familiarize themselves with typical learning situations at German universities. In this class at the A1 level according to the CEFR, students learn basic vocabulary and grammatical structures as well as corresponding competencies in university-specific situations. The class takes intercultural and methodological aspects of foreign language learning into consideration, and students are introduced to German culture and society. The A1 level is split into two courses, the A1.1 course covers the first half of the level and the A1.2 course covers the second half of the level.

Knowledge seems to matter a great deal to us. We want to know the answers to various questions and are often willing to pay a high price to find out. And in evaluating other people's actions, we often care about what they knew and when they knew it. But why should we care so much about knowledge in particular? Is it important only because true belief is important? And why, for that matter, is true belief important? In this seminar we will examine some of the roles knowledge plays in our lives and evaluate a range of proposals attempting to explain its significance. Readings will be drawn primarily from contemporary analytic philosophy.

This course aims to provide a range of qualitative research tools to invoke different stories, views, voices, identities, embodimenets and experiences. We discuss the theory, methodology and foundation of non-textual research methods. These different methods are hoped to provoke a new way of thinking away from the Western canon, contribute to more democratic and just research settings, and open up possibilities for transforming social inequalities. Through readings, class discussions, lectures from invited guests, and practical exercises students will explore the potentials and challenges of various methods, identify opportunities to use them, and consider how to treat and deal with data that comes out of the use of creative methods. This course is suitable for anyone who would like to experience and learn more about alternative and/or complementary methods to existing qualitative approaches (i.e. focus groups, interviews). It is of advantage if participants have prior experience of and with qualitative research. Participants at the early, middle and final stages of a qualitative research project will benefit, but if possible, it is best to consider data collection and analysis at the proposal stage.

Amid political revolutions and widespread social movements, the interwar period in Europe (1918–39) witnessed a dramatic reinvention of the figure of the artist and a broad questioning of the role of art in everyday life. Centered around movements such as Dada, Constructivism, and De Stijl as well as institutions like the Bauhaus and Vkhutemas, these activities engaged directly with technological shifts and industrial production, generating new formats and avenues for artistic production (textiles, photomontage, graphic design, exhibition displays, and more). Surveying this rich field of experimentation, this seminar places special emphasis on the role of women and the productive breakdown of notions of art, craft, and design.

After completing this module, the participants have gained practical experience in designing, implementing, and testing of applications for the internet of services within a small team and therefore gained significant knowledge and insights within the areas of mobile devices, communication and services, location-based services, cloud computing and digital communities. Furthermore, the participants have gained important knowledge of how to organize and realize IT projects, including controlling, reporting, planning, and communicating with external partners. 
 

In literary uchronies, fictional scenarios are created that are based on an alternative course of history. They can therefore be understood as thought experiments that seek an answer to the question of what would have happened if history had taken a different path at one point: What if the Second World War had taken a different course? What if the turning point hadn't happened? What if the First World War had never ended or had never happened at all? The lecture approaches this phenomenon from different perspectives, tracing the history of concepts and genres as well as identifying thematic focuses of concrete literary uchronies. The distinction from Uchronia in historical science will also play an important role. In this way the course shows that literary uchronia is not just a (sometimes quite amusing) game of the imagination, but in most cases also a challenging and intensive examination of the past as well as the present.