|
General description of the field, methods and problems of philosophy. Its role in culture and the merits of studying it.
Socrates' philosophizing as a model of criticism and openness. Plato's theory of ideas and the concept of the ideal state. Good and Truth; relativism vs. absolutism.
Aristotle: the attempt at systematizing the sciences and the role of logic. Critique of Plato's idealism in metaphysics, ethics and politics.
Moral philosophies of antiquity. What are goodness and happiness?
Christian thought. Reason and faith. Man facing God and world. The problem of evil.
Descartes as the father of modern philosophy. Metaphysical foundations of the modern conception of science.
British empiricism. The controversy between empiricists and rationalists. The forming of the anti-metaphysical understanding of science.
Political philosophy: natural law and the theories of social contract. Traditional and modern views on state and society.
Immanuel Kant: the limits of knowledge and the foundations of rational action.
Individual, society, history - Hegel and Marx. Freedom or necessity in history?
The critique of culture: Nietzsche and Freud on man.
Existentialism: Kierkegaard, Heidegger and Sartre. Freedom, responsibility, solitude. The dilemmas of existence.
Positivism and its contemporary followers. Science and philosophy.
Social and political ideas of the 20th century.
Selected problems of contemporary philosophy. The dilemmas and challenges of our time.
|
