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| PHIL0010-1 | History of contemporary philosophy
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| Duration : | 45h Th |
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| Holder(s) : | Arnaud Dewalque |
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| Language : | French language |
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| Course contents : | The course aims at exploring the roots of contemporary philosophy in nineteen- and twentieth-century Austrian-German philosophy. Starting with the crisis which followed the decline of German idealism (Hegel, Fichte, Schelling), we will briefly look at two major and concurrent forms of "renaissance" of the philosophy during the second half of the nineteen century: (1) the famous "Back to Kant"-movement which was at the origins of the great Neo-Kantian schools, (2) the defence of a philosophy grounded on a certain form of psychology, viz. empirical psychology. We will then focus on this second form of renaissance and, more exactly, on the so-called descriptive psychology of Franz Brentano (1838-1917), which has seen a spectacular surge of interest in recent years. Our leading hypothesis will be that this descriptive psychology, insofar as it is based on a defence of introspection, has given rise to a "first person" philosophy, which can be traced back to Descartes and has been developed e.g. by Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) under the name of "phenomenological philosophy". |
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| Prerequisites : | At least one Philosophy course. |
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| Workshops : | Set book:
- Franz Brentano, Psychology from an empirical standpoint, translated by M. de Gandillac, revised by J.-F. Courtine, Paris, Vrin, 2008.
Philosophy students are required to read this book, which will be discussed in class. It is optional for other students. |
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| Organization : | Duration: 45 hours 1st + 2nd terms, on Tuesdays, 10am-12 noon. Lectures take place in the room "Philo II" (main building, 2nd floor). First lecture: Tuesday October 5th 2010. See http://cipl82.philo.ulg.ac.be/horaires |
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| Written notes : | The course comprises a series of lectures. There is no syllabus. However, beside the book of Brentano mentioned above (which philosophy students must have a copy of), a handout with the main excerpts discussed during the course will be made available to participants in PDF form which can be downloaded from the ULg-website before each lecture. Several other reference books may be helpful for students wishing to delve more deeply into the topic of the course. See e.g.:
- On the historical background of German-Austrian philosophy during the second half of the nineteen century:
- L. Freuler, La Crise de la philosophie au XIXe siècle, Paris, Vrin, 1997 (available at the ULg Philosophy library: 43FRE).
- M. Heidegger, "Genèse et première percée de la recherche phénoménologique", dans Prolégomènes à l'histoire du concept de temps, French translation. A. boutot, Paris, Gallimard, 2006, pp. 33-51 (50HEI.BOU).
- On the Brentano School:
- D. Fisette and G. Fréchette, "Le Legs de Brentano", from the collection A l'école de Brentano. De Würzbourg à Vienne, Pars, Vrin, 2007, pp. 13-160 (45BRE.FIS).
- L. Albertazzi, M. Libardi and R. Poli (eds.), The School of Franz Brentano, Dordrecht, Kluwer, 1996 (45BRE.ALB).
- On neo-Kantianism:
- E. Dufour, Les Néokantiens. Valeur et vérité, Paris, Vrin, 2003.
- M. Ferrari, Retours à Kant. Introduction au néo-kantisme, French translation, Th. Loisel, Paris, Cerf, 2001 (42KAN.FER).
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| Assessment : | For students in Philosophy, the assessment will be made up of two parts:
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Part I: Two reading reports (40% of the final grade) to be submitted during the year (submission dates will be communicated to students during the first class).
A 'reading report' is a short text (around five pages) presented as a summary of a piece of reading, a commentary or a critical analysis. Each report will cover an article or chapter from the secondary reading list given during the first or second classes. The report must summarise the essential elements of the text: general objective, theses, arguments, main concepts, questionable developments etc. The criteria for assessment are: 1. understanding of the subject, 2. clarity and quality of language; 3. structure and internal coherence.
Failure to comply with basic formal conventions (spelling, formatting, quotations, etc) will be automatically sanctioned by penalty points and can, where appropriate, give rise to the work being simply postponed and a corrected version being required to be submitted during the second session. Conversely, the choice of an article written in a foreign language will give rise to bonus points.
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Part II: Final oral examination (60% of the final grade) during the June session.
The exam will take the form of a short interview during which students should demonstrate their knowledge of the subject matter covered in class and understanding of the course reading material. This involves, for example, explaining a concept, commenting upon an extract of text covered in class or developing a line of argument analysed during the year.
For students from other disciplines: oral examination only. |
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| Contacts : | Teacher
Arnaud Dewalque
Philosophy Department
7, Place du 20-août, Building A1/2nd floor
B-4000 Liège
Phone 0032 (4) 366 55 92
E-mail a.dewalque@ulg.ac.be |
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| Remarks : | All students enrolled in History and Romance Lanaguages and Literature wishing to follow this course as an option are welcome. |
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