(in Polish) Philosophy of Culture with Elements of Aesthetics

obligatory courses

The aim of the course is to present the basic problems and methods of philosophy of culture as well as to show possible ways of their application to the analysis of the contemporary cultural phenomena. The starting point is the conviction that culture can be understood only as intertwined with and inseparable from the human being. Culture is the realm of symbolically mediated human actions and creative endeavors realized always within historically determined horizon. As such it can be understood in the light of the three fundamental categories: symbol, image and techne. The course will be centered around and guided by these categories. Thus the analyses of symbolic, imaginary and technological dimensions of human culture will be of our special interest.

The aim of the course is to present the basic problems and methods of philosophy of culture as well as to show possible ways of their application to the analysis of the contemporary cultural phenomena. Respectively the course will be divided into four parts. The first part will provide an outline of philosophy of culture. The instructor will describe its status and relation to other philosophical sub-disciplines and humanities. The special attention will be paid to different philosophical methods (e.g. phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, deconstruction) and their value for analysis of human being-in-culture. The starting point is the conviction that culture can be understood only as intertwined with and inseparable from the human being. The human being, in turn, can be given to him-/herself only as mediated through culturally determined forms of experiencing and understanding his/her being-in-the-world. Therefore, philosophy (of culture) is not some kind of external activity, but an inherent to culture moment of its critical/interpretative turning toward itself. Speaking more positively, culture is the realm of symbolically mediated human actions and creative endeavors realized always within historically determined horizon. As such it can be understood in the light of the three fundamental categories: symbol, image and techne. Thus the other three parts of the course will be centered around and guided by these categories as expressions of human relentless efforts of making meaning of what is simply given, of humanizing the raw, anonymous “reality”; as the means of theoretical and practical projects through which humans actualize themselves and, in this way, constitute reality in its plural, multidimensional character, being at the same time determined by that same reality. Thus the analyses of symbolic, imaginary and technological dimensions of human culture, their different aspects (aesthetic, social, political etc.) as well as the ways they shape human individuals will be of our special interest. Together with the theoretical considerations concerning these dimensions we will pose question about their universal character and their historical dynamics. And discuss – by using concrete examples of social-cultural life and of cultural productions – their contemporary highly, as its seems, fluid and variable structure.

E. Cassirer, “An Essay on Man: An Introduction to a Philosophy of Human Culture” (frag.)

E. Cassirer, “The Problem of the Symbol and Its Place in the System of Philosophy”

E. Cassirer, “Mythic, Aesthetic, and Theoretical Space”

E. Cassirer, „The Philosophy of Symbolic Forms” vol.2 (frag.)

R. Barthes, “Mythologies” (frag.)

M. Merleau-Ponty, “Eye and Mind”

J.-L. Marion, „The Idol or the Radiance of the Painting” in: idem, „In Excess: Studies of Saturated Phenomena”

J. Ranciere, “The Future of Image”

J. Baudrillard, “Simulacra and Simulation”

H. Arendt, “Work”, in: idem, “The Human Condition”

V. Dusek, “Human Nature: Tool-Making or Language” in: Val Dusek, “Philosophy of Technology: An Introduction”

L. Mumford, “Tool-Users vs. Homo Sapiens and the ‘Megamachine’” in: R. Scharff and V. Dusek eds., “Philosophy of Technology. The Technological Condition: An Anthology”

D. Ihde, “A Phenomenology of Technics”, in: R. Scharff and V. Dusek eds., “Philosophy of Technology…”

P.-P. Verbeek, “Postphenomenology of Technology”, in: R. Scharff and V. Dusek eds., “Philosophy of Technology…”

D. Ihde, “Technology as Cultural Instrument”, “Image Technologies and Traditional Culture”, “Techno-Science and Pluriculture”, in: D. Ihde, “Postphenomenology: Essays in Postmodern Context”

V. Flusser, “Into the Universe of Technical Images” (frag.)

Acquired knowledge:

- know and understand, on the basic level, the role philosophical reflection plays in shaping culture;

- review and enrich vocabulary and linguistic skills in English (on level C1);

- have orderly and detailed knowledge in philosophy of culture;

- know general interrelations between formation of philosophical ideas and cultural and social changes;

- are aware of the complex nature of language and of the historical changeability of its meanings;

- have basic knowledge about cultural institutions and basic orientation in contemporary intellectual life;

Acquired skills:

- have ability to find, analyze, evaluate, select and use information from written and electronic sources;

- correctly use acquired philosophical terminology;

- analyze philosophical arguments, identify their crucial theses and premises and reveal their interrelations;

- justify and criticize generalizations in light of available evidence;

- reveal simple interrelations between formation of philosophical ideas and social and cultural processes;

- formulate in speech and in writing (in English) philosophical problems, formulate theses and articulate their own opinions concerning world-views and social issues;

- create and reconstruct different arguments referring to the basic normative premises of a given standpoint, world-view or cultural imaginary;

Acquired social competence:

- are open to new ideas and ready to change his opinion in light of available data and arguments;

- on the basis of creative analysis of new situations and problems create, on their own, new ways of solving them;

- show motivation to the engaged participation in social life;

- are aware of the meaning and value of the European philosophical heritage for understanding social and cultural events; and are aware of the responsibility for maintaining this heritage;

- are aware of the importance of humanistic reflection for shaping social bonds.

The final grade will be composed of two parts: active participation in discussions during the course and the oral exam at the end of the course.

In both cases assessed will be: the ability to understand and solve a given philosophical problem by using defensible arguments; to use correctly the acquired terminology; to compare different perspectives on a given problem and assess the arguments of different perspectives; the awareness of interrelations between philosophical language and changeable historical-cultural horizon.

Acceptable number of missed classes without formal explanation: 2