(in Polish) Philosophy of Value including Philosophical Anthropology B

obligatory courses

The main aim of the course is to present the basic problems of axiology and philosophical anthropology as well as to create a specific anthropological imagination which will lead to a deeper understanding of different aspects of the human being.

The main aim of the course is to present the basic problems of axiology and philosophical anthropology as well as to create a specific anthropological imagination which will lead to a deeper understanding of different aspects of the human being. The basic premise of philosophical anthropology is the conviction, firstly formulated by sophists, then strongly atriculated and justified by Immanuel Kant, that all metaphysical, epistemological or ethical questions find their justification in the question concerning the essence of the human being. In other words, all reflection on the physical as well as social world, all metaphysical and religious systems as well as all scientific theories are always anthropological, taken from the anthropological perspective. They are an expression of the essentially human effort of giving meaning to reality. This effort, however, is always undertaken within the horizon of particular values. That is, on the basis of what is recognized as good, proper or adequate. Philosophical questions concerning the human being, then, are inextricably linked with axiology from the very beginning. Moreover, since the human being exists within a particular cultural community, which has its own tradition and history and which determines the basic forms of self-reference of the human being, philosophical anthropology is essentially interested in phenomena such as human historicity, linguisticality or more broadly intersubjectivity in their mutual relations with different (sometimes even conflicting) systems of values.

The module B will be centered around two main thematic field:

1. The body and the modes of its experience – within this field we will analyze the ways in which human body being the condition of possibility of every experience at the same time becomes the object of artistic-like activities as well as the object cultural strategies and techniques of management and training.

2. Culture and Creativity – this part is devoted to the arts and the aesthetic experience in general. We will analyze different forms and functions of art throughout history, as well as the cultural conditions of the reception and appropriation of the works of art. The main aim of this enterprise will be the exploration of the phenomenon of human creativity and the possible fields of its application. Hence, the category of artistic work or creation will be contrasted and confronted with the technical production and innovation. While doing this we will ask what happens with the work of art in the age of the domination of the technical paradigm. Then, we will investigate different modes of applying the artistic and aesthetic categories to these dimensions of human life which are not originarily connected with the arts. In other words: how the idea of creativity based on the artistic activity finds its application in the case of even the most mundane phenomena of everyday life? That will lead to the final problem of this part of the course – to which extent the experiences of human individuals living in the late modernity can be defined by the disappearance of the strict boundary between the real and the imaginary.

J. P. Sartre, „Being and Nothingness” (frag.)

M. Merleau-Ponty, „Phenomenology of Perception” (frag.)

M. Mauss, „Techniques of the Body”

M. Foucault, „Docile Bodies” in: idem, „Discipline and Punish”

Z. Bauman, „Body and Violence in the Face of Postmodernity” (frag.)

M. Featherstone, „The Body in Consumer Culture”

N. Caroll, „Four Concepts of Aesthetic Experience”

N. Caroll, „Art, Practice, and Narrative”

N. Caroll, „Identifying Art”

H.G. Gadamer, „The Relevance of the Beautiful”

W. Benjamin, „The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”

After the course students:

Knowledge:

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

- have the basic knowledge of the place and the role of philosophy in its relation to sciences as well as of its obejective and methodological character;

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

- have knowledge about the norms constituting and regulating social structures and institutions as well as about origins of these norms, their nature, changes and ways they shape human behaviors;

- know the relations between the main philosophical subdisciplines and have orderly knowledge and understanding of of the main currents within these subdisciplines;

- have the basic knowledge about the place and importance of the humanities in the system of sciences as well as about their objective, methological and terminological specificity;

Skills:

- can read and interpret a philosophical text;

- 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;

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

Social competence:

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

- 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 based on the active participation in the discussions during the classes 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; the ability to use correctly the acquired terminology; the ability to compare different perspectives on a given problem and assess the arguments of different perspectives; knowledge of the specific character of philosophical anthropology (and its axiological dimensions) and its relations with other philosophical subdisciplines as well as it relations to other humanistic disciplines.

Acceptable number of missed classes without formal explanation: 2