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Questions of Ethics - 2nd semester

Objectives

1. High level of understanding of the meaning and specificity of Ethics and of its articulation with other branches of philosophy and other scientific subjects; 2. High level of knowledge of the various approaches that have been taken in trying to provide an answer to ethical questions; 3. High level of knowledge of the most important concepts involved in the studying of Ethics; 4. High ability to analyse, compare, criticise and use these concepts, and also to independently interpret and discuss concepts or propositions in the Ethics area; 5. Detailed knowledge of the fundamental texts in the Ethics area, with a mastering of past interpretations, of the current state of research and of all the relevant bibliography; 6. Carrying out research work under supervision in the Ethics area, that demonstrates original explanations and adheres to scientific quality standards; 7. Acquire the skills necessary for carrying out research independently in the Ethics area


General characterization

Code

722031043

Credits

10

Responsible teacher

António de Castro Caeiro

Hours

Weekly - 3 letivas + 1 tutorial

Total - Available soon

Teaching language

Portuguese

Prerequisites

Not applicable

Bibliography

Textos de Espinoza: http://users.telenet.be/rwmeijer/spinoza/works.htm Textos de Fichte: http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/ctolley/texts/fichte.html Textos de Hegel: http://www.zeno.org/Philosophie/M/Hegel,+Georg+Wilhelm+Friedrich Textos de Kant: https://korpora.zim.uni-duisburg-essen.de/kant/ Textos de Schelling: https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Friedrich_Wilhelm_Joseph_Schelling



Teaching method

Two main activities are developed in the course. During the first one and a half hour, there is an explanation of theoretical contents,that will be followed by the presentation of questions by the students and a wide debate on the previously presented issues. In the second part of the class, there will be room for reading, interpretation and analysis of the texts on which the presented contents were based.

Evaluation method

The evaluation is chiefly focused on the elaboration of a paper that shall be previously proposed to and supervised by the lecturer (80%). Attendance and participation in class are also taken into account (20%).

Subject matter

The course aims at approaching to the concept of Freedom as it begins to be chiseled from the work of Spinoza on. We will focus on his Ethics, especially part V. Then we will move to Kant to see how he proceeds in his interpretation, by connecting human freedom the other two ideas of the reason: the immortality of the soul and God. The german Idealism, especially Schelling and his writings on human freedom, will give rise to an exploratory inquiry through Fichte and Hegel as a reaction to and a moving forward away from Kant. Will it be possible? How is it possible do live a life without the background of the fundamental idea of human freedom, its possibility, its reality?