Topics in Contemporary Philosophy

Code:

MFIL056

Acronym:

TFC

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	Philosophy

Instance: 2023/2024 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Philosophy
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in Philosophy

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MFIL	11	study plan	1	-	6	41	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

Throughout this course, the aim will be to study an interesting trend in contemporary philosophy in recent decades, marked by a new taste - a new need - for dialog with ancient culture and philosophy. This orientation of contemporary philosophy can be observed in thinkers dedicated to ethical issues, such as Bernard Williams and Martha Nussbaum. Williams' "Shame and Necessity" and Nussbaum's "The Fragility of Goodness" are two contemporary works that make up an intense summons to Greek culture - Homeric, tragic and philosophical. Our aim will therefore be to study this dialogue between contemporary philosophy and ancient Greek culture, seeking to understand its meaning(s) from the following points of view: the question of ethics and human action; the recovery of a vision of the tragic tone of human existence and ethical life; the theme of the passions and the vulnerability/fragility of the moral agent and the realization of virtue and eudaimonia.

Learning outcomes and competences

By the end of the course, students should have an in-depth knowledge of the main lines of thought that make up contemporary philosophy's dialog with ancient culture and philosophy, as well as the ability to reflect consistently and autonomously on the ethical (and aesthetic) issues in question.

Working method

Presencial

Program

I. The philosophy of Bernard Williams:

- Ethics and Tragedy: the return - or permanence - of the tragic element in our ethical life;
- The concept of "moral luck" (Gaugin; Anna Karenina);
- Williams' "anti-progressivism": reading the Homeric poems - against Bruno Snell;
- Shame and Guilt (the case of Ajax);
- Responsibility and Intentionality - the 'miasma' or pollution (the case of Oedipus);
- The discontinuity between Philosophy and Tragedy: Wiiliams' "Nietzscheanism".

II. Martha Nussbaum's philosophy:

- The critique of Williams' "anti-theory" and the validation of philosophical theorizing in the ethical sphere: the summoning of Aristotle's ethics;
- Dialogue with Aristotle: the concept of "eudaimonia" and its requirement of favorable external conditions (the case of Priam);
- The question of the fragility/vulnerability of virtue and eudaimonia (the eighth Nemean Ode by Pindar);
- The rejection of Stoic ethics and the consideration of the possibility of the degradation of virtuous character (the case of Hecuba);
- Political philosophy as the port of arrival for Nussbaum's ethical theorizing.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

Mandatory literature

Bernard Williams; Moral Luck. ISBN: 0-521-28691-3
Williams, Bernard; Shame and Necessity, University of California Press, 1993
Martha Nussbaum; The Fragility of Goodness. Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, 1986
Martha Nussbaum; The Therapy of Desire. Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics, Princeton University Press, 1994

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical exposition and discussion of texts.

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Trabalho escrito	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	21,00
Frequência das aulas	41,00
Trabalho de investigação	100,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

75% of sessions attended

Calculation formula of final grade

The classification comes from the presentation of the work

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable

Internship work/project

Not applicable

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

De acordo com as normas em vigor

Classification improvement

In conformity with FLUP regulation

Observations

Language of instruction: Portuguese