Contemporary philosophical texts

Duration

30h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Arnaud Dewalque

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Topic: Subjective Experience - Phenomenology and Analytic Philosophy.
Purpose
The course is designed to provide participants with an understanding of the phenomenological research program (PRP) and its relevance for analytic philosophy of mind. Challenging the so-called divide between phenomenological and analytic traditions, it investigates how a phenomenological approach to the mind is progressively regaining traction within analytic philosophy. Special emphasis is put on the notion of subjective experience. Central to PRP is the claim that classes or types of mental phenomena can be correctly identified and described on the basis of subjective experience alone, that is, on the basis of the firsthand knowledge the subject possesses of her own mental phenomena. This claim tacitly presupposes a certain 'liberal' view of subjective experience (or consciousness), a view which was shared by early phenomenologists and early analytic philosophers alike-or so we shall argue. Yet, in the present-day research context all sorts of doubts stand in the way of this view. The main mandate of the course is to critically discuss those doubts.
Course Overview
The course begins with a disambiguation of PRP by contrasting two conceptions of subjective experience we will call the broad, inclusive (or 'liberal') conception and the narrow conception. It is suggested that the inclusive conception was overarching at the time of PRP's inception in Brentano and was shared by Moore and the early Russell, while the narrow conception may be traced back to C.I. Lewis and became prominent with the Vienna Circle. The course goes on with a critical examination of doubts against PRP, wondering whether those doubts are best understood as being directed against the narrow view of subjective experience, the inclusive view, or both. The course has two main parts. Part 1 discusses three kinds of global doubts, namely: doubts about the existence and nature of subjective experience (ontological skepticism: is there such a thing as subjective experience?), about the epistemic value of subjective reports (epistemological skepticism: are subjective, introspection-based reports reliable?), and about the connection between intentionality and subjective experience (heuristic skepticism: couldn't a theory of mental states qua intentional states merely dispense with a consideration of subjective experiences?). Part 2 addresses more local doubts concerning some much-disputed cases of subjective experience, namely: perceptual, cognitive, and agentive experience.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Main purpose: to clarify some important issues of contemporary philosophy. By the end of the course, students are supposed:

• to understand what are the main philosophical options regarding the considered topics
• to see what is at stake in each of those options
• to master some conceptual technicalities

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

This course is aimed at students in Philosophy only. Students should be able to read philosophical texts in English. It is recommended, albeit not mandatory, to have followed the course: History of contemporary philosophy (PHIL0010-1, A. Dewalque).

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lectures, class discussions, readings.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

First session: September 20, 2019. 

Recommended or required readings

Readings (required for students in philosophy; optional for listeners who follow the course without being officially registered as students): see syllabus (to be downloaded below).
Bayne, Tim. 2008. 'The Phenomenology of Agency'. Philosophy Compass 3 (1): 182-202.
Chalmers, David J. 2002. 'Consciousness and Its Place in Nature'. In Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings, edited by David J. Chalmers, 247-71. Oxford, New York: OUP.
Crane, Tim. 2001. 'The Knowledge Argument Examined'. In Elements of Mind, by Tim Crane, 93-99. Oxford: OUP.
Dennett, Daniel C. 2005. 'A Third-Person Approach to Consciousness'. In Sweet Dreams. Philosophical Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness, 25-56. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Dewalque, Arnaud. 2011. 'Expérience Perceptuelle et Contenus Multiples'. Bulletin d'Analyse Phénoménologique 7 (1): 153-85.
Gennaro, Rocco J. 2008. 'Representational Theories of Consciousness'. In The Routledge Handbook of Consciousness, edited by Rocco J. Gennaro, 107-21. London and New york: Routledge.
Horgan, Terence E., and John Tienson. 2002. 'The Intentionality of Phenomenology and the Phenomenology of Intentionality'. In Philosophy of Mind. Classical and Contemporary Readings, edited by David J. Chalmers, 520-33. Oxford, New York: OUP.
Montague, Michelle. 2017. 'Cognitive Phenomenology'. In Philosophy: Mind, edited by D. M. Borchert, 297-326. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Seron, Denis. 2017. 'Brentano's Project of Descriptive Psychology'. In The Routledge Handbook of Brentano and the Brentano School, edited by Uriah Kriegel, 35-40. New York and London: Routledge.
Siewert, Charles. 2012. 'Respecting Appearances: A Phenomenological Approach to Consciousness'. In The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Phenomenology, edited by Dan Zahavi, 48-69. Oxford: OUP.
---. 2016. 'For Analytic Phenomenology'. In Analytic and Continental Philosophy: Methods and Perspectives. Proceedings of the 37th International Wittgenstein Symposium, edited by Harald A. Wiltsche and Sonja Rinofner-Kreidl, 95-110. De Gruyter.

Assessment methods and criteria

Attendance is mandatory. Please note that you can only miss two sessions. If you should miss a third session, a medical certificate will be needed. Should you miss a fourth session your term paper will not be considered and you will not pass the course.
Active participation is expected. It includes:

• Participation during the sessions
• Reading the articles for every session
• Posting entries in the e-Campus Forum (see below)
• Handing in your work on time

• Active participation during the sessions (10%)
• Active participation in the e-Campus Forum (30%)
• Term paper (60 %)

• Entries must be uploaded Wednesdays before every session, 23:59 at the latest.
• Your entries should consist in a question/objection about a specific text passage of the reading assigned for that week.
• Your responses to your fellow students should always respond specifically to the question asked or the objection raised by suggesting varying interpretations/giving concrete counter-arguments.
• The best questions/objections will be discussed in class.

• the relevance of the question at issue
• the formal quality of the written text, including its clarity
• the inner articulation and consistency of the ideas

• Length: 10 pages/3000 words.
• Please respect the academic standards in terms of style and layout (Times New Roman 12pt, paragraphs with alinea, text justified, Line and Paragraph Spacing: 1.5)
• Deadline: 20/01/2020, 23:59
• Please send your paper as PDF to a.dewalque(at)uliege.be.
• IMPORTANT: For every 24 hours of delay you will lose two marks on your paper. Examples: Original grade (11) handed in 1 day late: Final grade (9); Original grade (18) handed in 2 days late: Final grade (14)

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Contacts

Prof. Arnaud Dewalque Dpt of Philosophy 7, Place du 20-août, Building A1/2d floor B-4000 Liège Phone: 0032(4)366.55.93

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session

Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning

Assessment subjects

Assessment methods

Contacts

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session

Assessment subjects

Unchanged

Assessment methods

Unchanged. Final papers are to be handed in by August 28 at the latest. Should you experience any difficulty with respect to this deadline, please get in touch with the professor as soon as possible.

Contacts

Email: a.dewalque@uliege.be

Items online