Ontology I

Code:

FILO030

Acronym:

ONT1

Instance: 2017/2018 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Web Page:	https://moodle.up.pt/course/view.php?id=2114
E-learning page:	http://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	45	FILO - Study Plan	3	-	6	4

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

1. To identify the main issues and questions discussed on ontology.
2. To understand the philosophical problems concerned with the historical foundation of metaphysics as the science of being qua being, in the history of wetern philosophy. 
3. To grasp and to identify the main concepts of the specific lexicon of Ontology and its specific use within the work of each author studied.  
4. To develop analytical skills and criticism regarding the texts of the philosophical tradition and the metaphysical issues discussed.
5. To develop critical skills concerning the different solutions presented in the history of western philosophy regarding the main issue analysed in the program about the possibility of metaphysic as a science of being qua being

Learning outcomes and competences

1. To develop tools for the analysis and criticism of philosophical texts on ontology and on the mains issues discussed in this science.
2. To develop critical and speculative skills on the constitution of metaphysics as a science
3. To grasp the basic technical vocabulary of Ontology and its efficacy in the explanation of the ontological paradigms examined
4. To understand the issues and philosophical problems inherent to the question of the definition of Metaphysics as a science, in the history of philosophy

 

 

Working method

Presencial

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

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

simultaneous knowledge - to read and analyse requiered bibliography (primary sources and studies)

Program

I - Introduction – What is Ontology?

1. Ontological issues and main theoretical problems
2. Ontology and metaphysics – main paradigms in the history of western philosophy.

II – Parmenides and Plato: thinking on being / saying what there is.

1. Parmenides’ On Nature (Poem): on Being, not being and becoming.
2. Plato’s Sophist : overcoming the impasse of Parmenides’ Monism. The place of «not being» in predication.
   • The puzzle of not being and the epistemological results of Parmenides’ monism
   • The doctrine on the great kinds of being.

III – Aristotle’s «Metaphysics»

1. Aristotle and the foundation of the science «Metaphysics»

1. Defining the subject matter of the science of being qua being, its methodology and its place within sciences.
2. Being qua being: its notion and how to do science of it.

IV –  The interpretation of Aristotles’s Metaphysics in Islamic world and in the Middle Ages: main paradigms.

IV.1 – Avicenna’s Metaphysics:

1. Avicenna and the science Metaphysics. Its object and place within sciences.
2. Avicenna’s new approach of the concept of being and of the way rational soul acquires this knowledge.

1. 2 – Aristotle’s Metaphysics and its reception on Latin Middle Ages:

1. Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus: two different versions of metaphysics, of the concept of being and of the natural potency of human knowledge.

1. Duns Scotus and the foundation of metaphysics as «scientia transcendens of the transcendentals». The subject matter of this science. Scotus’s explanation of human knowledge and the cognitive processes to access being.

 

V – Conclusion:

1. Metaphysics as the best knowledge of the maximum knowable.
2. The reception of Aristotelian tradition in the 16^th century Scholasticism: Francis Suárez and the new foundation of Metaphysics.
3. Ontology: the birth of a new science (Lorhard & Golclenius)

Mandatory literature

Kirk, G.S.; Raven, J.S.; Os filósofos pré-socráticos : história crítica com selecção de textos , Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 1994
Aristóteles; Metafísica, Loyola, 2002
Platão; Sofista, F.C.G., 2011
Avicena (ed. Marmura); The Metaphysics of the Healing, Brighma Yung Univ. Press, 2005
Duns Scot (ed. Boulnois); Sur la Connaissance de Dieu et Univocité de l'étant, PUF, 1988
Russell Bertrand 1872-1970; Os^problemas da filosofia
Quine W. V. 1908-2000; From a logical point of view
Martin Heidegger; Ontología. Hermeneutica de la facticidad., Alianza Editora, 1999

Complementary Bibliography

Gutas, Dimitri; Avicenna and the Aristotelian tradition : introduction to reading Avicenna’s philosophical works , Brill, 1988
Parménides (ed. Néstor-Luis Cordero); Poema. Fragmentos y Tradición Textual, Ágora, 2007
NEF, Frédéric; Qu'est-ce que la métaphysique?, Gallimard, 2004
Ferraris, M. (ed.); Storia dell'Ontologia, Bompiani, 2008
Jolivet, J.; La teologia degli Arabi, Jaca Books, 2001
GIlson, E.; BEing and some philosophers, Europe Printing (2aed), 1961
Mesquita, A.P.; Aristóteles. Obras Completas. IIntrodução Geral, INCM-CFUL, 2005
Dimitri Gutas; Avicenna - Metaphysics
Marie Louise Gill; Method and Metaphysics in Plato's Sophist
Novotný, D., Novak, L. (eds.); Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives in Metaphysics , Routdlege, 2014

Teaching methods and learning activities

Explanation of themes and matters in a theoretical way, open to the discussion of the philosophical issues and arguments with the students.

Methodology based on the analysis and commentary of the texts by the authors refers to in the program; explanations and discussion of its arguments.

keywords

Humanities

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	66,00
Frequência das aulas	60,00
Trabalho de investigação	36,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

According to the evaluation standards in force

Calculation formula of final grade

Elements for evaluation:
Final exame = 100%
students may also choose to be evaluated progressively. In this case the elements for evaluations and its weight in the final mark are as follows:
written work and its oral presentation = 75% 
Final exame - 25%

Examinations or Special Assignments

n/a

Internship work/project

n/a

Classification improvement

According to the evaluation standards in force