LIST OF UNDERGRADUATE COURSES FOR PHILOSOPHY YEAR ONE: FIRST SEMESTER CORE COURSES (04) Codes TITLES Credit value Status L T P COURSE MASTER PH1101 Introduction to Philosophy 6 C 40 20 NIBA PH1102 African Traditional Religion 6 C 40 20 YILAKA PH1103 Logic 6 C 40 20 SHAFAK PH1104 History of Ancient Philosophy 6 C 40 20 SHAFAK Electives (2) PH1105 Scientific Methodology 4 E 30 10 NGALIM English 2 E 10 10 Total Credits 30 YEAR ONE: SECOND SEMESTER Code TITLE Credit value Status L T P COURSE MASTER PHI201 PH1202 General Ethics Philosophy of Religion 6 C 40 20 TAKOV 6 C 40 20 FONKA PH1203 PH1204 African Philosophy 6 C 40 20 SHAFAK History of Medieval Philosophy 6 C 40 20 MOFOR ELECTIVES/MNIOR (02) PH1205 Text of Plato and Aristotle 3 E 20 10 NIBA English 3 E 20 10 Total credits 30 YEAR TWO: FIRST SEMESTER CORE COURSES (04) Codes TITLES Credit Value Status L T P COURSE MASTER PH2301 Metaphysics 6 C 40 20
PH2302 Cosmology 6 C 40 20 PH2303 Philosophical Anthropology 6 C 40 20 PH2304 History of Modern Philosophy 6 C 40 20 ELECTIVES (02) PH2305 Text of Thomas Aquinas/Augustine 3 E 20 10 PH2306 French 3 E 20 10 Total credits 30 YEAR TWO: SECOND SEMESTER CORE COURSES (04) Codes TITLE Credit Status L T P COURSE MASTER Value PH2401 Natural Theology 6 C 40 20 PH2402 Special Ethics 6 C 40 20 PH2403 Gnoseology 6 C 40 20 PH2404 History of Contemporary Philosophy 6 C 40 20 ELECTIVES (02) PH2405 Text of Heidegger/Jacques Maritain 3 E 20 10 PH2406 Text of Descartes/Kant/Hegel 3 E 20 10 Total credits 30 YEAR THREE: FIRST SEMESTER CORE COURSES (04) Codes TITLES Credit Value Status L T P COURSE MASTER PH3501 Political Philosophy 6 C 40 30 PH3502 Introduction to Pedagogy 6 C 40 30 PH3503 Introduction to Psychology 6 C 40 30 PH3504 The Philosophy of Art 6 C 40 30 ELECTIVES (02) PH3505 The Philosophy of Science 3 E 20 10 PH3506 Introductory Latin 3 E 20 10 Total credits 30
YEAR THREE: SECOND SEMESTER Codes TITLES Credit Status L T P COURSE MASTER Value PH3601 Hermeneutics 6 C 40 30 PH3602 The Philosophy of History 6 C 40 30 PH3603 The Philosophy of Language 6 C 40 30 PH3604 Scientific Paper 6 C 40 30 ELECTIVES/MINOR (02) PH3605 The Social Teaching of the Church 3 E 20 10 PH3606 Philosophy of Culture/Anthropology 3 E 20 10 Total credits 30 L= LECTURE. T=TUTORIALS, P=PRACTICAL, C=COMPULSARY, E=ELECTIVE SM= SEMESTER, ML=MAJOR LECTURE. TU=TUTORIALS, CR=CREDIT HOURS PHILOSOPHY ONE First Semester Compulsory PH1101 Introduction to Philosophy 6cr PH1102 African Traditional Religion 6cr PH1103 Logic 6cr PH1104 History of Ancient Philosophy 6cr Elective PH1105 Scientific Methodology 3cr English 3cr Second Semester Compulsory PH1201 General Ethics 6cr PH1202 Philosophy of Religion 6cr PH1203 African Philosophy 6cr PH1204 History of Medieval Philosophy 6cr Elective PH1205 Text of Plato/Aristotle 3cr English 3cr PHILOSOPHY TWO Third Semester Compulsory PH2301 Metaphysics 6cr PH2302 Cosmology 6cr PH2303 Philosophical Anthropology 6cr PH2304 History of Modern Philosophy 6cr
Elective PH2305 Text of Thomas Aquinas/Augustine 3cr PH2306 French 3cr Fourth Semester Compulsory PH2401 Natural Theology 6cr PH2402 Special Ethics 6cr PH2403 Gnoseology 6cr PH2404 History of Contemporary Philosophy 6cr Elective PH2405 Text of Descartes/Kant/Hegel 3cr PH2406 Text of Heidegger/Jacques Maritain 3cr PHILOSOPHY THREE Fifth Semester Compulsory PH3501 Political Philosophy 6cr PH3502 Introduction to Pedagogy 6cr PH3503 Introduction to Psychology 6cr PH3504 The Philosophy of Art 6cr Elective PH3505 The Philosophy of Science 3cr PH3506 Introductory Latin 3cr Sixth Semester Compulsory PH3601 Hermeneutics 6cr PH3602 The Philosophy of History 6cr PH3603 The Philosophy of Language 6cr PH3604 Scientific Paper 6cr Elective PH3605 The Social Teaching of The Church 3cr PH3606 Philosophy of Culture/Anthropology 3cr PHILOSOPHY ONE PH1101 INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY Objective: Attempts to answer the fundamental questions of what philosophy is, who the philosopher is and what kind of intellectual activity philosophy is.
Content: Pre-scientific/Spontaneous Philosophy; Beginnings and Emergence; Wisdom; Definition; Sources; Value; Questions; Subjective Factor; Philosophy and Faith. Object: What philosophy is. Outcome: Philosophy makes us think critically and live better. Teaching: Lectures PH1102 AFRICAN TRADITIONAL RELIGION Objective: The aim of this course is to enable students to form a true estimate of the religious and cultural traditions of Africa. Through a comparative study of ATR and the Christian religion, the student will be enabled to make a positive assessment of ATR with an open mind.. Content: 1. The Nature, Worship and the Spirituality of ATR. 2. Cross-cultural influences in the notion of God in African Traditional thought and practices. 3. ATR and Morality. 4. Role of Women in ATR. 5. ATR,Christianity and other Religions. Object: African Traditional Religion is the totality of the African s way of life. Outcome: Can a student believe in ATR and in the Christian God at the same time? Assessment Mode: A scientific paper and an oral examination. PH1103 LOGIC Objective: The course presents certain elements of formal logic and philosophical logic in a perspective which, while taking into account developments in contemporary thought, refers essentially to the tradition of Aristotelian and Scholastic logic. It is an essential tool for philosophizing, it also prepares the student for good and sound reasoning; helps him to be more critical in a coherent manner. Content: 1. Historical Survey of Logic. 2. Language, Languages and their Uses. 3. The Proposition, Terms, Categorical Propositions and the Opposition, Modal propositions, Composed Propositions. 4. Syllogism, Categorical Syllogism, Hypothetical Syllogism, Establishing the Validity of Syllogisms. 5. Deduction and Induction. Object: Analysis of right thinking as reflected in language. Outcome: Right reasoning and sound argumentation. PH1104 HISTORY OF ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Objective: In the History of Ancient Philosophy the students are led to have a taste of the beginnings of philosophy. The questions raised and tackled by the ancient philosophers help them to become aware of the fact that being inquisitive gives birth to philosophical thinking. Content: The Question of the Origins of Ancient Philosophy. The Presocratics - Ionian Thinkers, etc. Sophists and Socrates. Plato, Aristotle. Hellenism. Plotinus and Neo-platonism. Object: The overview of Ancient Greek thought. Outcome: How Philosophy started and spread PH1105 SCIENTIFIC METHODOLOGY Objective: Acquisition of general notions of scientific methodology of Philosophical studies. Learning the concrete methodological applications for the study and research work.
Content: 1. General Notions and auxiliary sciences of methodology. University courses, seminars, common exercise. 2. Means and instruments of Research. The sources, Critical editions: Beginning and the Phases of elaboration. 3. Phases, method and instrument for the writing of a thesis. Bibliographical and Content cards. 4. Writing up the results of the research. Citations, footnotes, abbreviations. Object: How to study and write scientific papers. Outcome: The student is expected to produce scientific works CCC 1101 ENGLISH Cfr. Department of English. PH1201 GENERAL ETHICS Objective: The objective of the course is to enable the student to develop a consistent and unified moral system based on Greco-Roman philosophical tradition, with constant and universal principles whereby he can evaluate and decide for himself, from inner conviction, what the good life consists in and how he ought to live a good life practically. Content: Nature of Ethics, Ethical Theory and Ethical Standards, Human Acts and Moral Responsibility., Conscience and Moral Goodness, Virtue and Vice., Law, freedom, Truth, Rights and Duties. Object: Principles of right and wrong in free human conduct. Outcome: Why ought we do good and avoid evil? Assessment Mode: Written and oral examination. PH1202 THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION Objective: The course leads the students to a better understanding of the relationship between Philosophy and Religion. The notion of Religion is explored, and some of the World Religions are identified. Content: What is Religion, What is Philosophy of Religion; Arguments for the Existence of God. Arguments for Atheism; The Place of Experience in Religion; Secularism; Humanism; New Religious Movements; Fanaticism. Object: Transcendent being as a universal object of human experience. Outcome: Why believe in God? Does the world need God? Assessment Mode: Written Examination. PH1203 AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY Objective: This course has as principal objective to help the student to understand the methodology of studying African thought; examining the major articulations, the fundamental ideas as well as the problematic of African Philosophy, as brought to light by the writings of African Philosophers. Content: 1. Introduction: The Problematic of African Philosophy. What is African Philosophy? The African origins of Greek Philosophy. How not to compare African Thought and Western Thought. Philosophy and Post-Colonial Africa. 2. Human Nature and Ethics: The Relation of Soul and Body. The Perspective of an African World-view. The Social Nature of the Self; The individual, the Community and the Moral Order; The Concept of a Good man. Moral-systems
and the Value of Human Life. 3. On Knowledge and Science: Divination : A Way of Knowing? The Problem of Knowledge in Divination. The Concept of Truth: A Perspective in an African Culture. 4. African Concepts of evil: an Understanding in a Particular Cosmology. 5. Political Philosophy: Consciencism. Traditions in African/American Thought. 6. Contemporary Moslem Philosophers in North Africa. Object: The identity of African Philosophy. Outcome: The importance and place of African thought in the general scheme. PH1204 HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY Objective: Having been introduced to philosophy, Medieval Philosophy brings the student face to face with the problem of faith and reason. How did this problem originate and how was it tackled by the philosophers of this age St. Augustine, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, etc. How did philosophy help in the growth of theology? Content: Greek philosophy and Christianity, St. Augustine, Neo-Platonism after Augustine; Historical background to Scholasticism, Carolingian Renaissance, Peter Abelard, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, Subsequent Developments, Disenchantment of Faith and Reason, Duns Scotus, etc. Object: An overview of Medieval thought. Outcome: Man in relation to himself, to the world and to the supernatural. PH1205 PLATO PHAEDO Objective: To give the students a much more detailed account of the last moments of Socrates life before his death. Content: Some time after Socrates death, Phaedo, a devoted pupil who had been with him to the end, gives an account of his last hours to a number of his friends. These friends include Echecrates, Cebes, and Simmias. It is a very enriching dialogue. In it we see Plato at his best. Object: Why did Socrates die? Outcome: Direct confrontation with a philosophical text. Assessment Mode: Textual analysis and presentation in class and an oral examination at the end. PH1205 ARISTOTLE - NICOMACHEAN ETHICS Objective: This course is helpful to understand other courses such as: Political Philosophy, Ethics, Ontology and History of Philosophy. The reading and mastering of this book enables the students to make good moral judgments, and establish good foundations in moral philosophy and in other social sciences. Content: Insistence on this course is on the following topics: Happiness, the good, pleasure, the will, freedom, virtues (moral and intellectual), friendship. Object: Happiness is found in the possession of the Good. Outcome: Direct confrontation with a philosophical text. Assessment Mode: Textual analysis and presentation in class and an oral examination at the end. CCC 1102 ENGLISH Cfr. Department of English.
PHILOSOPHY TWO PH2301 METAPHYSICS Objective: To understand being and Being as the starting point, the focus and end of Philosophical speculation. Content: 1. Being as the Perfection of all Perfections Notions, Esse, Essence, Analogical language. 2. The Structure of Being: Substance and Accidents, The Suppositum, The Person, The Categories, Act and Potency, Esse and Essence 3.The Transcendental Properties: Meaning and Derivation, Unity, Truth, Goodness, Beauty. 4. Causality: Experience, Nature, Principle and Critical Justification of Doctrine, The Four Causes: Material, Formal, Efficient, Final -Causes, Activity, Principle of Finality. Object: Being as such in its structure, properties and causes. Outcome: Why are there things instead of nothing? Assessment Mode: Written examination. PH2302 COSMOLOGY Objective: Through this course concentration is made on the study of the cosmos as a philosopher; that is, by using speculation and reflection on the cosmos, from the senses and argumentation. This reflection helps the student to understand certain basic and fundamental notions that will help him understand ontology, theodicy, natural theology and other sciences. Content: Insistence is put on notions such as: Nature, matter, form, Place, Locomotion, and Time; Motions, substance and accident, Act and potency, Principles and Causes; the First Unmoved mover. Objective: The metaphysical constitution of the physical world. Outcome: The course should enable the student to be acquainted to philosophical and scientific knowledge concerning man s place in the world. Bibliography: COLLINGWOOD R.G., The Idea of Nature, Oxford University Press, London 1976. GLENN P.J., Cosmology, B. Herder Book Co., London 1957. WHITEHEAD A.N., Process and Reality: An Essay in Cosmology, Harper Torchbooks, New York 1960. PH2303 PHILOSOPHICAL ANTHROPOLOGY Objective: The underlying thrust of the course is the human being viewed from a strictly philosophical point of view elaborated through answers to the questions of the origin, the nature and destiny of the human being. Content: 1. Introduction: Stating the Question; Methodology, History. 2. Life: Mechanism and Vitalilism. 3. Knowledge: Sensitive and Intellectual Knowledge. 3. Freedom. 4. The Human Soul: Nature, Origin and Destiny, Relation with the Body. 5. The Human Person: Uniqueness, Conceptions, Absolute Value. 6. Survival After Death: Death, and Immortality. Object: What it is that makes the human being, such. Outcome: Towards a better understanding and appreciation of the origin and value of the human person.
PH2304 HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY Objective: This course identifies and treats the main philosophical currents and figures of this period beginning with anti-aristotelianism of Hobbes, and Bacon, through the rationalism of Descartes to the Idealism of Kant, Hegel and Marx; The Empiricism of Hume, Locke and Berkeley, the will of Feuerbach, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche. Content: Rise of Modern Science and new problems for philosophy. Descartes; Spinoza, Leibnitz (Rationatists), Empiricism; Enlightenment; Kant; French Revolution and German Idealism; Hegel; Russell; Positivism; Evolutionism. Object: Overview of Modern Philosophy. Outcome: I think, therefore I am? Does science explain everything? Assessment Mode: Written Examination. PH2305 AUGUSTINE - DE CIVITATE DEI Objectives: Through the City of God, the course intends to introduce the principal philosophical and theological Augustinian themes. It also aims at deepening the knowledge of the relationship between Augustine and Ancient Philosophy as well as Augustine s own Christian Philosophy. Content: 1. Recognizing the various themes treated in Books I VII. 2. Analysis of Book VIII (Natural theology and Platonism). 3. Theory of creation and of the origin of Evil in Books XI XIII. 4. The Ethics and the theme of the two Cities in Book XIV. 5. Theology of History in Books XV XVIII. 6. Beatitude and Eschatological themes in Book XIX XXII. Object: Augustinian relationship between faith and reason. History is also the story of God. Outcome: Direct confrontation with a philosophical text. Assessment Mode: Textual analysis and presentation in class and an oral examination at the end. PH2305 THOMAS AQUINAS - DE ENTE ET ESSENTIA Objective: A critical and attentive reading of the text as complementary to the treatment of the key Thomistic composition/distinction of the notions of Being and Essence. Content: As found in the text: 1. Understanding of Being and Essence. 2. The Essence of Composed Substances. 3. Genera, Species and Difference in Composed Substances. 4. The Essence of Separated Substances. 5. Divine and Creatural Essences. 6. The Essence of Accidents. Object: The structure of being, corporeal and spiritual. Outcome: Direct confrontation with a philosophical text. Assessment Mode: Textual analysis and presentation in class and an oral examination at the end. PH2306 FRENCH PH2401 NATURAL THEOLOGY Objectives: The course seeks to outline how the question about God is a philosophical question and most especially how philosophy, in the Christian tradition has sought to discuss the question of his existence and his nature. Content: 1. Introduction: Nature, Method, Presuppositions, Relation to Theology. 2. The Existence of God: Quinque Viae and Supplementary Proofs. 3. The Nature and Attributes of God; Absolute and Relative Divine attributes. 4. The Activity of God - Immanent Divine Operations: Divine Knowledge and Will; Transient Divine Operations: Creation, Conservation, Concurrence, Governance. The problem of evil. Object: God, His Existence, Nature and Operations.
Outcome: Can God s existence be rationally proven? Assessment Mode: A written and an oral examination. PH2402 SPECIAL ETHICS Objective: The objective of the course is to open the mind of the student to the key ethical issues concerning life and human dignity and to enable him to make informed ethical choices and decisions. Content: Health and Life (Bioethics), Sexual Ethics, Love, Marriage, Family and Society, Justice, Peace and War, Work and Property. Object: Special Issues of right and wrong in free human social conduct. Outcome: A critical ethical judgment of man s life in the society. Assessment Mode: A written and an oral examination. PH2403 GNOSEOLOGY Objective: The course seeks to explore the nature, the extent, the reliability, the sources and methods through which the human mind can attain to the truth with certitude. Content: The Nature and Method of the Critical Problem. Truth and Certitude: The Nature of Truth. States of the Mind with Respect to Truth. Doctrines of Certitude in the History of the Critical Problem: Skepticism, Idealism, Sensism, Traditionalism, Dogmatism, Error. The Sources of Certitude: Evidence of the Senses, Evidence of the Mind, Authority. Scientific Certitude and its Acquisition: Science, Method, Induction. Object: Knowledge of the truth with certitude. Outcome: To know is to know that I know.. PH2404 HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY Objective: This course enables the student to be acquainted with the philosophers of this period who shaped the history of philosophy with the event of man s revolution and the coming of new technology, economic systems, industrialization and new worldly challenges. Content: This course goes from life philosophies of Idealism, personalism and actualism to American philosophy (Pragmatism, Naturalism), Phenomenology (Husserl, Scheler, Ponty, Ricoeur), Existentialism (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Jaspers and Marcel), German Philosophy of Gadamer, transcendentalism and Neo Thomism (Maritain, Gilson, Marechal and Lonergan), Structuralism and after structuralism (Lacan, Foucault, Levinas, Derrida and Lyotard). Object: Overview of Contemporary philosophy. Outcome: Man s confrontation with his existence. Assessment Mode: A written test and an oral exam of any of the works of the above authors. PH2405 HEGEL THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF SPIRIT Objective: Phenomenology is at the heart of Hegel s philosophy. A study of this work will enable the students to get into the spirit of his philosophy. Content: Consciousness; Self-consciousness; Free Concrete Mind-Reason, Spirit; Religion, Absolute Knowledge. Object: Hegel s philosophy of spirit. Outcome: How Hegel s system influenced later philosophical approaches.
Assessment Mode: Textual analysis and presentation in class and an oral examination at the end. PH2406 JOHN HENRY NEWMAN AN ESSAY IN AID OF A GRAMMAR OF ASSENT Objective: The student, through this course, will be able to acquire the capacity to distinguish the different types of assents, with particular attention to assent in religion. This assent an act which is essentially personal, with an objective value. Content: 1. The theme of assent, in its different aspects. 2. Assent in religious matters (modes of cognition characteristic of living faith). 3. Real assent as an essentially personal act. 4. Objective validity of real Assent. 5. Real assent and the subjectivism and relativism of modern culture. 6. Imagination and certitude. 7. The Problem of religious certitude, Nature of religious belief; the problem of Faith and Reason. Object: What it is about religious truth that makes the human mind accept it as such Outcome: How can we assent to the truth? Assessment Mode: Textual analysis and presentation in class and an oral examination at the end. PHILOSOPHY THREE PH3501 POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY Objective: Different political theories of ancient and medieval periods are studied in order to provide students with original foundations of political life and political science. A philosophical examination of action and political life: work, labour, technology and friendship, privacy, justice and other virtues. Some fundamental notions such as Government, state, nation, nature and convention, the moral and the legal and other political systems will also be considered. Some African experiences are studied, especially Cameroon. Content: Political Philosophy and Political Science; Political Philosophy in the Classical, Medieval, Modern and Contemporary Periods; the State and Government; Communism, Democracy, Socialism and Capitalism; the Common Good and African Political philosophy. Objective: The kind of society and government that best befits the human being as such. Outcome: Man as essentially a political being. Assessment Mode: A written and an oral examination. PH3502 INTRODUCTION TO PEDAGOGY Objective: Define Pedagogy and explain its relationship and importance to education and curriculum; Explain and apply the pedagogic, educational and curriculum principles and philosophies to plan, teach and evaluate lessons at primary, secondary schools; Relate and appraise the theoretical teaching and learning process to the Cameroonian context., Assess the impacts of the media on pedagogy and andragogy today and estimate their future in the everevolving Internet age. Content: 1. The definition, nature and scope and pedagogy as a discipline. 2. Pedagogy verses. Andragogy. 3. Pedagogy, education, schooling and curriculum-relationship. 4. Educationdefinition, principles and agencies. 5. Curriculum-principles and models. 6. Pedagogic contributions of great thinkers in education. 7. Philosophical foundations of education/pedagogy. 8. Principles of pedagogy (teaching methods or instructions) 9. Organisation of teaching and learning. 10. Principles and methods of Lesson planning. 11. Teaching models, strategies, methods and skills. 12. Questioning, evaluation and learning and class room management. 13. Media impact and changing teaching methods and approaches. 14. Major trends in Education in Cameroon.
Object: The art of imparting knowledge. Outcome: Acquisition of teaching skills Assessment Mode: A written exam and a teaching practical lesson (orals). PH3503 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY Objective: To enable the student understand their behavior and the behavioral patterns of others with a view to understanding and solving some social problems. Content: What is Psychology? Schools of Psychology; Individual Differences, Conflicts and their Causes; Life goals, Personality. Object: How the human mind works and influences behaviour. Outcome: Man as a complex psychological being. Assessment Mode: A written and an oral examination. PH3504 THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART Objective: This course is a philosophical treatment of Art, Poetics and the beauty; Natural beauty, artificial beauty and the idea of the ugly; Differences between Aesthetic and Art, between Art and non-art, and the skeptical conceptions of beauty and art. Content: Different views of Beauty: Modern and contemporary periods: The idea of beauty and art in the African traditional society, and the Aesthetic fulfillment. Object: Different art forms and their relationship to the idea of the beautiful. Outcome: What is the idea of beauty? Assessment Mode: A written and an oral examination. PH3505 THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Objective: The course proposes a reflection on the Epistemological identity of the sciences takes a look at the nature of science with the aim of giving the students an overview of most of the major topics in contemporary philosophy of science. It seeks to answer questions such as: What is science? What distinguishes science from pseudo-science? How does science arrive at objective results? How and why does scientific knowledge progress in the course of history? Why do scientists sometimes abandon old scientific theories in favour of new ones? This objective will be met through the study of different concepts and positions from the philosophy of science. Content: 1. The nature of the philosophy of science. 2. The hypothetical and deductive method in science. 3. The problem of induction/ Karl Popper and the theory of falsification. 4. Duhen and Quine: Holism and underdetermination. 5. Paradigm shifts and scientific revolutions (Thomas Kuhn). 6. Paul Feyerabend and the question of scientific method. 7. The sociological aspect of science. 8. The relationship between faith and reason. Object: Understanding scientific and philosophical truth. Outcome: How true is scientific truth? Assessment Mode: A scientific paper of 8-10 pages and an oral examination. PH3601 HERMENEUTICS Objective: To show the importance of and difficulties posed by understanding to the methodology of and knowledge in general in the sciences of the human spirit with particular reference to Hans-Georg Gadamer. It is done in collaboration with the course on the Catholic Interpretation of Scriptures.
Content: 1. Meaning and Scope of Hermeneutics. 2. Brief Historical Survey. 3. The Dialectical Hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer. Object: To understand is to dialogue with the object of interpretation. Outcome: The art of interpretation Assessment Mode: A textual analysis and an oral examination. PH3602 PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY Objective: This course helps the students to subject history to a thorough investigation and to understand it from the ultimate principles of existence and of knowledge. An attempt to understand history and to integrate it into the whole of human existence. Content: Philosophy of History Its origins and aims, Historical reality, Historical Knowledge and values. Object: The human being makes history and is made by history. Outcome: The rational understanding of what makes history. Assessment Mode: A written examination. PH3603 PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE Objective: The course offers an introduction to a philosophical reflection and on the meaning of linguistic expressions and on the use that is made of such expressions in practice, in Contemporary Philosophy. Content: 1. Philosophy of Language and Analytic philosophy. 2. Philosophy of Language and Logic. 3. Philosophy of Language and Linguistics. 4. Names and References. 5. Theory and Meaning. 6. Pragmatic and Linguistic acts. 7. Language and the Person. 8. Language and thought; 9. Supposition and signification. Object: All knowledge and understanding are done in language conceived of as the house of all that is. Outcome: Correct of language. Assessment Mode: A written and an oral examination. PH3604 SCIENTIFIC PAPER Objective: To concretely implement what has been acquired in the area of the methodology scientific philosophical research. Content: Topics of interest are shared out by the lecturer or chosen by the student. The student does the research and then presents the fruits to his mates. The candidate takes questions from the audience after the presentation. The lecturer closes the deliberations. Object: The first official scientific paper that tests the mastery of the rules of methodology the student s ability to be critical and analytical. Outcome: A mastery of scientific methodology Assessment Mode: A presentation in class. PH3605 THE SOCIAL TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH Cfr. The Faculty of Theology. PH3606 PHILOSOPHY OF CULTURE AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY Objective: The course will show how anthropology is the science of humankind with a focus on the biological and cultural dimension of man. In the discourse on biological dimension of
humankind, the course will show how the progress of science has shown the possible evolution of man. Cultural or social anthropology on the other hand attempts to understand the socially learned behaviour of man as a member of a given community. Culture is of its very nature an essential product of the thinking process. Content: Introduction and definition of key concepts such as culture, man and society. The course will also treat man s conscious actions in society, the evolution Assessment Mode: A scientific paper of 8-10 pages and an oral examination. of the mind and its dynamism. Object: The rational understanding of man in his cultural context. Outcome: Man s adaptation in his changing culture.