The Newest Trends in French Philosophical Thought

fakultatywne

The only prerequisite is to be able to do the readings in English. The

written work will be done either in English, Polish or French, according to the individual choice of the student. Knowledge of French is not necessary, but the students are welcome to do their written work in French if they wish to do so.

The class is devoted to the newest trends in French philosophical thought represented by four contemporary authors: Bruno Latour (1947 - ), Quentin Meillassoux (1967 - ), Catherine Malabou (1959 - ), and Yves Citton (1962 - ). The areas of interest of these authors are very diverse: from ecology to metaphysical speculation, from media to technology, from cognitive capacities of the human mind to the interrelations between human and non-human agents. The newest French thinkers we will study depart quite radically from their 20th-century predecessors. None of them proposes a master narrative, like it was popular to do in the heydays of “French theory” of the 1960-1970, when French intellectual culture relied heavily on overreaching explanations of reality provided by psychoanalysis, Marxism and structuralism, as well as poststructuralism.

The class is devoted to the newest trends in French philosophical thought represented by four contemporary authors: Bruno Latour (1947 - ), Quentin Meillassoux (1967 - ), Catherine Malabou (1959 - ), and Yves Citton (1962 - ). The areas of interest of these authors are very diverse:

from ecology to metaphysical speculation, from media to technology, from cognitive capacities of the human mind to the interrelations between human and non-human agents. The newest French thinkers we will study depart quite radically from their 20th-century predecessors. None of them proposes a master narrative, like it was popular to do in the heydays of “French theory” of the 1960-1970, when French intellectual culture relied heavily on overreaching explanations of reality provided by psychoanalysis, Marxism and structuralism, as well as poststructuralism.

Each of the thinkers we will study is highly original and reflects on a variety of specific problems raised by our contemporary world. This thematic and methodological richness stems from the diversity of disciplines these authors are involved with: besides philosophy, they are interested in anthropology, sciences, sociology, psychology, media studies, and literary studies. The newest trends in French philosophical thought that we will study, will be represented by a series of articles and fragments of books of manageable length that we will read, interpret, and discuss in English. Students will have the option of doing their written work in English, Polish or French.

The course has three main goals:

- To train students’ interpretative skills through reading of French philosophical texts (in English) devoted to the most pressing issues of our contemporary culture,

- To foster a constructive exchange of ideas in an academic setting,

- To promote the students’ original conceptualization of fundamental questions raised by our contemporary world.

The goal of this class is not to promote any particular philosophical or ideological conception.

Methodology:

The course is partly a regular class conducted through face –to-face meetings, partly it is conducted online.

Students attend ten lectures available on the course web page. Each of those lectures is an about 30 minutes-long PowerPoint presentation combined with video clips and with a prerecorded audio track.

The lectures are an introduction to readings some of which will be available as interactive, multimedia readings online.

Moreover, each student is required to take part in seven 90-minutes-long face-to-face meetings on the University of Warsaw campus. Those meetings will be devoted to the discussion of the material presented during the lectures and to the discussion of readings. The dates and place of those meetings are available on the timetable of Collegium Artes Liberales, or can be obtained directly from the instructor, Prof. Jan Miernowski, at jmiernow@wisc.edu

(please contact Prof. Miernowski by e-mail as soon as you sign in for the class on USOS in order to get more information and provide your preferred e-mail address).

Parallel to the lectures, students will participate in an asynchronous online Discussion Forum.

There will be 4 take home quizzes during the semester. You will need about 60 min. to work on each of these quizzes. Only 3 out of 4 grades for the take home quizzes will be taken into account for the final grade of the course.

Plan of the course: See the “List of topics” in the part B of this form.

PLEASE NOTE:

After registering for this course you should immediately contact the course instructor, Prof. Jan Miernowski, at <jmiernow@wisc.edu>