Philosophy

This course provides a foundation in political theory through the thought and texts of some of the most important political theorists. It covers major political theorists from the ancient Greeks to the 20th Century. Topics include theories of human nature, the origin of government and law, man's relation to society and the state, the basis of political obligation, the idea of social contract, the idea of social progress, the critique of capitalism, and questions about race and gender. Thinkers discussed usually include Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, The Federalist, J S Mill, Marx, Nietzsche, Arendt, Fanon.

A moral theory has the task of explaining why certain norms regarding our actions are valid. Most people agree, for example, that it is morally wrong to lie. There is, however, strong disagreement as to why it is wrong. This course provides an overview of the most important moral theories, such as divine command theory, natural law theory, and moral relativism.

The course will also discuss ethical questions emerging in literature and film. It is recommended to read Ivan Turgenev's novel "Fathers and Sons" ("Fathers and Children" in the Russian original) and watch Billy Wilder's movie, "Double Indemnity."

This course offers an introduction to aesthetics as a philosophical discipline. Topics include: the question of art and beauty in antiquity; the foundation of a philosophical discipline; from Kant and the Enlightenment to Romanticism; the romantic revolution and its consequences; Nietzsche and the centrality of the aesthetic dimension; the 20th century and the opening of perspectives for contemporary aesthetics.

The topics for this course differ each term. In spring 2024, this course has a special focus on The Origin and Development of Political Psychology: From Plato to Martha Nussbaum. Political Philosophy is conceived as the application of philosophical investigation to politics and thus as a study of the contribution that philosophy may give to political practice. This implies both a clarification of the terms used in our everyday political vocabulary and an attempt at designing models of a just society. The course provides the following: a) notions on methodology in historical investigation; b) the ability to analytically read a text while at the same time situating it into the historical and linguistic context of the age; c) knowledge of the perennial tasks of political philosophy; d) an introduction to political realism. The course is devoted to the examination of the origin and development of political psychology. It starts with Plato's notion of the tripartite soul and arrives to the role of emotions in Martha Nussbaum's thought. The first part is devoted to a clarification of the notion of 'political philosophy' and to an account of the methodology in the history of political thought.

This course examines how prominent modern Western thinkers addressed philosophical issues within their historical and intellectual context. It traces the intellectual trajectory from Hobbes' social contract theory, through Mandeville, to the French and Scottish Enlightenment, culminating in the development of political economy by Adam Smith.

What is good reasoning? The course answers this question by studying the mechanics of reasoning. Students learn what an argument is, what the difference between validity and soundness is, and what it means to say that an argument is valid in virtue of its form. Students are introduced to various strategies and pitfalls in reasoning. In addition, to hone analytical skills, students are given arguments—drawn from philosophy and other areas—to unpack and evaluate. 

It has been one of the fundamental assumptions of the philosophy of mind that there is a basic similarity between information processing in computers and in human cognition. This similarity is thought to allow to use one type of information processing as a model for the other type: Human cognition is thought to provide standards for the ascription of consciousness to artificial systems in the Turing Test, conversely, Deep Neural Networks are thought to provide insight into information processing in human cognition. Recent developments in scientific research and in computer technology, however, have cast severe doubt on this assumption. After a quick look back at the original assumption, the seminar will discuss more recent papers discussing both the use of artificial systems as models for human cognition and the use of human cognition for the attribution of higher cognitive abilities to artificial systems like large language models. The seminar aims at specifying criteria that can help to distinguish between valid and invalid inferences from one system to the other.

This course investigates some of the deep and puzzling philosophical issues arising from mathematics. Some are metaphysical and semantic: What is mathematics about? Are there such things as mathematical objects (numbers, functions, sets, etc), and if so, do they exist in the same way as more familiar entities such as tables and chairs? Others are epistemological: How do we obtain mathematical knowledge? Does it arise from pure reason alone, or does the empirical world play a role? Students examine a number of influential views, including logicism, constructivism, platonism, fictionalism, and structuralism. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course deals with some of Aristotle’s most influential ideas. Students begin with one of his ethical works, the NICOMACHEAN ETHICS, and then move on to his metaphysics in the CATEGORIES. Students then look at Aristotle’s ideas about nature, causation, the infinite, place, and self-motion in his PHYSICS. Throughout the course, students consider questions of interpretation, try to understand how Aristotle’s ideas fit together and engage with his views and arguments critically.