Ontology I

Code:

FILO030

Acronym:

ONT1

Instance: 2021/2022 - 1S

Active?	Yes
E-learning page:	https://moodle.up.pt/
Responsible unit:	Department of Philosophy
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Philosophy

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
FILO	39	FILO - Study Plan	3	-	6	4

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

1. To identify the main subjects studied in ontology.


2. To understand the relevance of the major moments of the historical debate about the possibility of metaphysics as a science.


3. To grasp the main concepts of ontology and to understand the way they are used by the different philosophers studied.


4. To develop skills both of text analysis and of criticism concerning the texts analysed. 

Learning outcomes and competences

1. To understand the main philosophical issues discussed in the field of ontology.
2. To understand  the main philosophical arguments on the problem of being of the studied texts.
3. To understand the main concepts of Aristotle's ontology.
4. To understand the concept of existence in Avicenna, Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus.
5. To distinguish the two ontological paradigms studied.
6. To understand the main philosophical issues that are at stake in the historical-philosophical debate about the possibility of metaphysics as a science. 

 

Working method

Presencial

Pre-requirements (prior knowledge) and co-requirements (common knowledge)

prerequirements : research tools and knowledge grasped in previous years of the 1st circle of the course of Philosophy.

simultaneous knowledge - n/a

Program

Introduction
What is «ontology»?

Part I. A
Aristotle’s first philosophy.
1. Characteristics of this science.
2. Philosophy as ontology: the science of being as being.

2.1. Excursus: Ontology versus dialectic.
Philosophy as dialectic according to Plato. Being as the supreme gender and the nature of non-being.

2.2. Back to Aristotle: “Being is said in many ways” – Can there be a science of being?

Part I. B
The primacy of the substance in Aristotle's ontology.
What is substance? Analysis of the hypotheses substrate, essence and hilemorphic compound.

Part II
From ontology as a theory of substance to metaphysics as the science of transcendentals.

Part II. A

1.Aristotle and the onto-theological tension of the first philosophy.
2. The object of metaphysics according to Avicenna: the concept of existence.

Part II. B

The object of metaphysics and the nature of being in medieval scholasticism: Two divergent opinions– Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus.

Conclusion:

Ontology and metaphysics at the beginning of modernity.

Mandatory literature

Aristóteles; Metafísica, Loyola, 2002
Avicena (ed. Marmura); The Metaphysics of the Healing, Brighma Yung Univ. Press, 2005
Platão; Sofista, F.C.G., 2011
Duns Scotus (Allan Wolter ed.); Duns Scotus Philosophical Writings. , Hackett Publishing Company, 1987
Tomás de Aquino; O ente e a essência., Afrontamento, 2013
Tomás de Aquino; Proémio do Comentário à Metafísica de Aristóteles, Afrontamento

Complementary Bibliography

Marie Louise Gill; Method and Metaphysics in Plato's Sophist
Thomas Williams; Duns Scotus
S. Marc Cohen; Aristotle's Metaphysics
Olga Lizzini; Avicenna
Goris, Wouter and Jan Aertsen; Medieval Theories of Transcendentals
J. Wippel; Metaphysical Themes in Thomas Aquinas II, The Catholic University of America Press, Washington D.C., 2007
Oliveira e Silva, P. et alt.; Metafísica. Itinerários de um conceito, 2018
E. J Lõwe; A^survey of metaphysics. ISBN: 0-19-875253-9

Comments from the literature

The specific parts of the works here pointed out as of compulsory reading will be indicated on Moodle. 

Complementary bibliography will be introduced during the semester and will by available in Moddle.

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical-practical lessons. Methodology based on reading and on commentary of texts, expounding of philosophical questions and critical discussion of the arguments. 

All materials are available on the UC’s Moodle page, which also serves as a vehicle of permanent communication with the students, updating materials and implementing the teaching-learning process.

 

keywords

Humanities

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	10,00
Teste	90,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	110,00
Frequência das aulas	52,00
Trabalho de investigação	0,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

75% over the total classes

Calculation formula of final grade

Two written tests (in the middle and at the end of the semester) and oral participation. Each test 50% (being there included the 10% concerning the active participation in classes). The second test can be replaced by a work of c. 8 pages to be delivered via moodle until November 8th December and presented in class.

Examinations or Special Assignments

n/a

Internship work/project

n/a

Classification improvement

Students whishing to improve their mark should performe the rescue season exam (weighting 100%).