Contemporary Philosophy

Master 2021/2022

Category 'Best Course for New Knowledge and Skills'

Type: Bridging course (Politics. Economics. Philosophy)

Area of studies: Political Science

Delivered by: School of Philosophy and Cultural Studies

Where: Faculty of Social Sciences

When: 1 year, 1 module

Mode of studies: offline

Open to: students of all HSE University campuses

Instructors: Georgy Chernavin

Master’s programme: Политика. Экономика. Философия

Language: English

ECTS credits: 3

Contact hours: 28

Full Syllabus Ask Question

Abstract

This course presents an overview of the main problems of contemporary philosophy: the problem of sense, the problem of language, and the problem of the symbolical order. The main discourses that we will cover to address these problems are: phenomenology, analytical philosophy, and post-structuralism. A major part of the course contains a close reading of texts by Martin Heidegger, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Michel Foucault.

Learning Objectives

Knowledge of the main problems and positions in contemporary philosophy (as instanced in the philosophers selected for course)
describe the main problems and positions in contemporary philosophy;
explain the meaning of the philosophical concepts in different discourses of contemporary philosophy;
compare and evaluate the different positions in contemporary philosophy.

Expected Learning Outcomes

Advancement of the students’ grasp of ethics by means of connecting theoretical philosophy with applied philosophical problems;
Augmentation of the students’ knowledge of contemporary philosophy through their exposure to the contemporary debates;
Augmentation of the students’ knowledge of contemporary philosophy through their exposure to the contemporary debates;
Enhancement of the students’ ability to pursue a “problem-oriented” rather than a “method-driven” strategy of research;
Improvement of the students’ analytical and polemical skills in matters of theoretical and practical philosophy.
Improvement of the students’ analytical and polemical skills in matters of theoretical and practical philosophy.
Intensification and enrichment of the students’ awareness of the contemporary philosophical situation and furtherance of their ability to critically and independently form their theoretical and practical position in relation to it;
Intensification and enrichment of the students’ awareness of the contemporary philosophical situation and furtherance of their ability to critically and independently form their theoretical and practical position in relation to it;

Course Contents

I. Three Discourses of Contemporary Philosophy
II. The Problem of Sense: Phenomenology (a)
III. The Problem of Sense: Phenomenology (b)
IV. The Problem of Sense: Phenomenology (c)
V. The Problem of Language: Analytic Philosophy (a)
VI. The Problem of Language: Analytic Philosophy (b)
VII. The Problem of Language: Analytic Philosophy (c)
VIII. The Problem of the Symbolic: The Philosophy of Poststructuralism (a)
IX. The Problem of the Symbolic: Philosophy of Poststructuralism (b)
X. The Problem of the Symbolic: The Philosophy of Post-structuralism (c)

Assessment Elements

Essay (homework)
Reading (homework), Debates (classwork)
Exam

Interim Assessment

2021/2022 1st module
0.25 * Reading (homework), Debates (classwork) + 0.5 * Exam + 0.25 * Essay (homework)

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Dermot Moran, Springer Science+business Media B. V, D. Moran, & Cont Philos Rev. (n.d.). Husserl’s transcendental philosophy and the critique of naturalism. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.4E22E3D8
F I Girenok. (2013). Kant, Heidegger and the Problem of Metaphysics. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.AD12FB58
Hamilton, A. (2014). Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Wittgenstein and On Certainty. New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=873094
Horton, J. (2000). THE ORDERS OF DISCOURSE (Book Review). Political Studies, 48(1), 147. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=asn&AN=2983795
JAN PATOCKA, & JAMES DODD. (2018). An Introduction to Husserl’s Phenomenology. LA SALLE: Open Court. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1835570
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2004). The World of Perception. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=114850
Rump, J. (2011). Lévi-Strauss, Barthes, and the “Structuralist Activity” of Sartre’s Dialectical Reason. Sartre Studies International, 17(2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.3167/ssi.2011.170201
S. Kripke. (n.d.). Chapter 10 Naming and Necessity. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.61B78C8D
Soames, S. (2003). Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century, Volume 2 : The Age of Meaning. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=295536
Wheater, K. (2017). Structural Anthropology (Vol. First edition). London: Macat Library. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1552237

Recommended Additional Bibliography

Boundas, C. V. (2006). Deleuze and Philosophy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=165167
Butler, J. (1997). Excitable Speech : A Politics of the Performative. New York: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=653574
Coliva, A. (2010). Moore and Wittgenstein : Scepticism, Certainty and Common Sense. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=347702
Javier Vilanova Arias. (1998). SLUGA, H. y STERN, D.G. (eds.). The cambridge companion to Wittgenstein. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.9F343991
Moran, D. (2000). Introduction to Phenomenology. London: Routledge. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=70809
morris, katherine j. (2008). The Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty - Edited by Taylor Carman and Mark B.N. Hansen. Philosophical Books, 49(1), 57–59. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0149.2008.456_7.x
Rae, G. (2013). Overcoming Philosophy: Heidegger, Metaphysics, and the Transformation to Thinking. Human Studies, 36(2), 235–257. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10746-012-9253-x
Saussure, F. de, & Harris, R. (2013). Course in General Linguistics. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=654248
Świątkowski, P. (2015). Deleuze and Desire : Analysis of The Logic of Sense. Leuven, Belgium: Leuven University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1104585

Authors

CHERNAVIN GEORGIY IGOREVICH

Course Syllabus