COURSE INTRODUCTION AND APPLICATION INFORMATION


Course Name
Fundamentals of Philosophy
Code
Semester
Theory
(hour/week)
Application/Lab
(hour/week)
Local Credits
ECTS
GEHU 204
Fall/Spring
3
0
3
6
Prerequisites
None
Course Language
English
Course Type
Service Course
Course Level
First Cycle
Mode of Delivery -
Teaching Methods and Techniques of the Course
Course Coordinator -
Course Lecturer(s)
Assistant(s) -
Course Objectives To provide an introduction to the fundamental concepts and argumentative strategies of philosophy through an investigation of the question “What is a rational animal?” in relation to logic, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy.
Learning Outcomes The students who succeeded in this course;
  • will be able to understand and use basic concepts of logic, epistemology, ethics, and political philosophy.
  • will be able to acquire and sharpen critical reasoning and writing skills.
  • will be able to develop skills necessary for the close reading and analysis of texts in the humanities and the social sciences.
  • will be able to evaluate arguments in terms of their validity and the truth of their premises.
  • will be able to distinguish between consequentialist (utilitarian), deontological, and virtue ethical types of evaluation for human actions.
  • will be able to distinguish between descriptive and prescriptive propositions, and apply that distinction to the problem of justification of political authority.
  • will be able to familiarize themselves with classical and contemporary philosophical and literary texts.
Course Description
Related Sustainable Development Goals

 



Course Category

Core Courses
Major Area Courses
Supportive Courses
Media and Managment Skills Courses
Transferable Skill Courses

 

WEEKLY SUBJECTS AND RELATED PREPARATION STUDIES

Week Subjects Required Materials
1 Presentation and overview of the course; discussion of how to begin philosophy by acknowledging that we have already begun. Overview and discussion of a number of dilemmas and paradoxes.
2 Plato Apology
3 What is an argument? The concepts of validity, truth and soundness. Types of justification; types of refutation: by parallel reasoning, counter-examples, reductio ad absurdum. R. Fogelin, Understanding Arguments, pp 45-53 and pp. 405-433.
4 Fallacies of vacuity: circular reasoning, question-begging; fallacies of relevance: ad hominem, straw man, false cause, appeals to authority Fogelin, pp. 477-405
5 The Chinese Room Argument: Can Computers think? Discussion of artificial intelligence. Turing, A., 1948, ‘Intelligent Machinery: A Report’, London: National Physical Laboratory; Searle, J., 1980, ‘Minds, Brains and Programs’, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3: 417–57
6 MIDTERM
7 Introduction to epistemology Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, Meditation 1 and 2
8 Skepticism, sources of knowledge, methodic doubt, certainty as epistemic criterion, the cogito as first principle and model of Descartes, Meditations 2 (contn’d) and 3
9 Philosophy and science: the thinking subject as embodied being subject to the laws of nature. FIRST PAPER DUE Janet Richards, Human Nature After Darwin, pp. 4-25 FIRST PAPER DUE
10 Evolutionary biology as philosophical challenge and answer to the question “What is a rational animal?” Richards, pp. 25-51
11 Determinism, freedom of the will, morality as a scientific problem and science as a moral problem Richards, pp. 126-154
12 Consequentialism (Utilitarianism) and Deontology: arguments and criticisms Kant, pp. 274-281; Bennett, pp. 294-306; Bentham, pp. 306-312; Williams pp. 339-345; M. L. K. Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail.
13 Moral Psychology and Perspectivism. Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals, essays I and II.
14 The responsibilities and the problems of rational thought; the rational animal and the polis. Aristotle, Politics, Bk. 1 1986-2000; Locke, 249-253; Bentham and Mill, 270-274 Levi, If This is a Man.
15 Week 14 cont’d. SECOND PAPER DUE. Levi, Contn’d.
16 Final
Course Notes/Textbooks
Suggested Readings/Materials

 

EVALUATION SYSTEM

Semester Activities Number Weigthing
Participation
Laboratory / Application
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
1
35
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
1
30
Presentation / Jury
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exam
Midterm
1
35
Final Exam
Total

Weighting of Semester Activities on the Final Grade
3
100
Weighting of End-of-Semester Activities on the Final Grade
Total

ECTS / WORKLOAD TABLE

Semester Activities Number Duration (Hours) Workload
Course Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
3
48
Laboratory / Application Hours
(Including exam week: 16 x total hours)
16
Study Hours Out of Class
16
3
48
Field Work
Quizzes / Studio Critiques
1
Portfolio
Homework / Assignments
1
Presentation / Jury
Project
Seminar / Workshop
Oral Exam
Midterms
1
20
Final Exams
22
    Total
116

 

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES AND PROGRAM QUALIFICATIONS RELATIONSHIP

#
Program Competencies/Outcomes
* Contribution Level
1
2
3
4
5
1

To be able to perform, execute and manage the various responsibilities and duties of an interior architecture and environmental design professional

2

To be able to recognize, analyze and integrate within their practice the particular local and regional needs and developments of their profession

3

To be able to communicate and collaborate with other individuals and groups on a national and international level within their profession

4

To be able to develop, integrate and promote independent critical approaches for their professional practice

5

To be able to understand the social and environmental issues and responsibilities of their profession

6

To be able identify, assess and utilize the most up to date research, innovations, trends and technologies

7

To be able to consider the national and international standards and regulations of their field

8

To be able to develop the abilities to communicate and present design ideas within visual, oral and textual formats

9

To be able to adopt a multidisciplinary approach to design on a national and international level

10

To be able to recognize their own strengths, and develop them within an environment

11

To be able to collect data in the areas of interior architecture and environmental design and communicate with colleagues in a foreign language

12

To be able to speak a second foreign at a medium level of fluency efficiently

13

To be able to relate the knowledge accumulated throughout the human history to their field of expertise

*1 Lowest, 2 Low, 3 Average, 4 High, 5 Highest