Syllabus
PHILOSOPHY
Course Description
This course provides the bachelor students who chose English as a medium of instruction with information about main philosophical problems, such as knowledge, the truth, freedom, mind, justice, etc. Philosophy course trains students’ critical thinking skills and their skills in analysis and argumentation.
Contact information
Instructor: Dr. Oleksandr Kulyk
Office: Gagarin ave, 72, 813
Email: prof.kulyk@gmail.com
Course Webpages: https://sites.google.com/site/kuliktexts/en/courses/ph-is
Required texts
Plato, Republic
E. Gettier, Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
H.-G. Gadamer, Truth and Method
J. J. Thomson, Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem
Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
• apply reliable patterns of reasoning to avoid stereotypes and to provide own intellectual autonomy;
• use tools of intellectual work with such notions as “reality,” “cause,” and “truth;”
• use sound argumentative techniques;
• understand moral challenges.
Evaluation
Grades will be based on a 100-point scale distributed as follows:
Requirement
Participation (20%) – 20 points
Essays (40%) – 40 points
Exam – (40%) – 40 points
Final grade
А 90–100 points
В 82–89 points
С 75–81 points
D 64–74 points
Е 60–63 points
F 0–59 points
Course Requirements
Participation
To participate is to come to class and regularly contribute to discussions throughout the semester. This includes discussions in class and with the instructor during office hours.
Essays
In the framework of this course students will write four essays on the assigned readings.
Exam
There will be a final exam in which students will respond to two questions about the material covered. The format will be an essay. Students are expected to demonstrate in their answers that they have thought about the issues in an informed, thoughtful, and articulate way.
Tentative Timeline
February
Lecture:
The Role and Functions of Philosophy.
Seminar:
Plato, Republic: Allegory of the Cave
Lecture:
Philosophical Way of Thinking
March
Lecture:
The Nature of Knowledge
Seminar:
E. Gettier, Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?
Lecture:
Reality, Causation, and Material Constitution
Seminar:
L. Wittgenstein, Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus
April
Lecture:
The Philosophy of Mind
Seminar:
H.-G. Gadamer, Truth and Method
Lecture:
Morality and Values
Seminar:
J. J. Thomson, Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem
May
Lecture:
Ancient Philosophy: Key Themes and Thinkers
Lecture:
Main Traditions of Medieval Philosophy
Lecture:
Renaissance Philosophy
Lecture:
The Seventeenth-Century Rationalists and the Age of Enlightenment
June
Lecture:
German Idealism
Lecture:
Philosophy of the 19th-20th Centuries
Consultation
Exam