Course Manual: History of Philosophy (Fall 2022)

Course Name History of Philosophy

Course # 900171HUMH

Credits 6 EC

Timeslot Tue 13:45-15:15 and Fri 9:00-10:30 (Room 2.04)

Prerequisite(s) -
Related AUC Theme(s) -

Teacher(s)/Coordinator dr Asja Szafraniec

Course Content This course offers a broad overview of the history of

philosophy from the so-called Axial age (800-200 BC) to the
20th century.

The course focuses on Western philosophy. While the main

part of the curriculum is devoted to the Western texts, we
will also address non-Western thinkers (e.g., Hindu,
Buddhist, Chinese).

Major themes in the history of philosophy are touched upon

through primary sources. Special attention will be paid to
metaphysics and its critique, and aesthetic issues.

The course includes a discussion of the traditional

philosophical canon, and addresses what tends to be
excluded from the Western philosophical tradition.

Your Learning Objectives After completing this course:

- Students will have introductory knowledge of western
philosophers, major movements and themes of the
ancient world, medieval era, (early) modern and
contemporary era;
- Students will have introductory knowledge of some
non-western philosophers and philosophical systems;
- Students will be capable of reading both primary and
secondary sources in philosophy and of analyzing
their arguments;
- Students will be able to give clear oral and written
presentations on the basis of primary and secondary
sources;
- Students will be familiar with specific methodological
tools used in the various philosophical schools (such
as Plato’s dialogical method, the scholastic method,
etc.)

1
Contribution to the general 2.3.1 a, b, c, d; 2.3.2 a, b, c, e, g, h; 2.3.4 a; 2.3.5 a, b, c;
learning outcomes (cf. Aca- 2.3.6 a; 2.3.7 a, b, c, d
demic Standards and Proce-
dures (OER), section 2.3.

Form(s) of Instruction Preparation: Close Reading of Texts

An important part of this course is the close reading of

primary philosophical texts, which are not necessarily ‘easy
reading’. To start to understand them, it is crucial to
patiently and attentively read and re-read them; this could
be seen to be a central requirement of doing philosophy.

The handbook (A Short History of Philosophy) is meant to

function as a concise, historical framework that will help us
better understand and discuss the ideas of the philosophers
featured in the course. The course reader offers a selection
of primary texts that will allow to go deeper into certain
aspects of the philosophies of the thinkers in question, and
thereby to acquire a deeper, critical understanding of their
ideas.

Preparing for class by attending to the required close

readings of texts will enable you to participate in our in-class
engagement with the ideas and philosophers in question.

Participation: Group Analysis and Discussion

Especially in a Philosophy course, participation in group

analysis and discussion is very important, because together
we can best reveal different aspects of a text that might be
difficult, problematic, valuable, etc.

In order to be able to contribute to class discussion, you

need to be well prepared (see above). If you are unprepared,
you are wasting your own time and everybody else’s.

Being prepared does not mean already knowing all the

answers. It is very likely that, after (re-)reading a text, there
are a lot of elements that you do not yet fully understand. In
fact, you should bring these up in class: trying to isolate
what you do not understand and exploring why that is, is
often the best starting point for philosophical exploration.

Ideally, we should strive, not for the ‘ping pong’ model of

‘student asks–teacher answers’, but for a ‘student asks –
other student answers – third student disagrees – teacher
suggests – students (dis)agree/find solution’ model.

Participating in a discussion can be said to have three steps.

Step 1 is to offer an observation. Step 2 is analyzing what
you have observed, using relevant (theoretical) perspectives
and vocabulary. The 3rd step is to formulate an interpretation
based on what you have observed and analyzed. Not every
contribution in class can cover all three steps, but you should

2
 practice them as often as possible.

Attendance/Lateness

Attendance is required for all classes. If you are unable to

attend a class, you must notify both the teacher and your
tutor (one email addressed to both the teacher and the
tutor), indicating a reason for your absence.
You are required to be in class on time. Two late arrivals
count as one full absence from class.

Note that due to restrictions surrounding COVID-19 absence

from class will not result in failure of the course.
Nonetheless, attendance is expected.

Tasks: Commentary Papers, Presentations/ Debate,

Exam, Class-related assignments (Perusall, discussion
questions, evaluation questions etc.)

See the assignment descriptions that will be posted on

Canvas.

Assessment  Written Assignment 1 [20%] (LOs 1,3,5)

 Written Assignment 2 [20%] (LOs 1,3,5)
 Presentation or Debate [10%] (LOs 1,4)
 Participation [10%] (LOs 1,2,4)
 Exam [25%] (LOs 1,2,5)
 Class-related assignments [15%] (LOs 1,2,3,5)

Main Course Sources Handbook [HB]:

Robert C. Solomon & Kathleen Higgins, A Short History of
Philosophy. Oxford University Press 1996 (329 pp.).

Reader [R]:
History of Philosophy
– please order the printed version via Canvas (tab
"Readers")

Contact Information Teacher dr. Asja Szafraniec, via Canvas (or j.d.szafraniec@auc.nl)

3
 Weekly Programme (subject to change)

Week Date Subject Readings Tasks

1a Tue Introduction (1) HB, pp. 1-25: [Part I: The Search

6/09 for World Order: Ancient Philosophy]
13:45 ‘The “Axial Period” and the Origins of
Philosophy ― ‘Vedas and Vedanta:
Early Philosophy in India’

1b Fri 9/09 Introduction (2) / HB, pp. 25-39: ‘The First (Greek)
9:00 The Upanishads and Philosopher’ ― ‘The Pre-Socratic
The Pre-Socratics Philosophers (III): The Pluralists’

R: Heraclitus, Selection of
Fragments; Parmenides, Selection of
Fragments

In class: Brihadaranyaka Upanishad,

fragments

2a Tue The Sophists, HB, pp. 39-56: ‘Enter the Sophis-

13/09 Socrates & Plato (1) ts’ ― ‘Plato: Metaphysician or Subli-
me Humorist?’

R: Plato, The Republic – Book VII

(‘Allegory of the Cave’)

2b Fri Plato (2) R: Plato, The Republic – Book X

16/09 (‘Banishment of the Poets’)

3a Tue Plato (3) R: Plato, Phaedrus 274b-279c (‘On

20/09 Writing’)

3b Fri DEADLINE Submit Plato Commentary

23/09 via dropbox in Canvas

4a Tue Confucius (and for readings see "Modules" in Canvas

27/09 some Lao Tzu)
In class: selection from Tao Te
Ching

4b Fri Aristotle (1) HB, pp. 56-67: ‘The Philosopher’s

30/09 Philosopher: Aristotle’

R: Aristotle, Metaphysics (Alpha 1-3)

4
5a Tue 4/10 Aristotle (2) HB, pp. 67-77: ‘A Footnote to Plato
(and Aristotle)’ ― ‘Mysticism and
Logic in Ancient India’ and

R: Aristotle, On Poetics §§ 6-9, 13-

14 (+ Appendix 1)

5b Fri 7/10 Buddhist Philosophy For assigned readings see Canvas

(Nagasena and
Fazang)

6a Tue Scholasticism, R: Anselm ‘The Ontological

11/10 Proofs of God Argument’, Thomas Aquinas, ‘Five
Reformation, Proofs of God’, Pascal, ‘The Wager’,
Counter- Avicenna, ‘Metaphysics of the
Reformation Healing’, I 6-7

HB, pp. 154-163: ‘The Reformati-

on: Luther and His Progeny’ ― ‘The
Counter-Reformation, Erasmus and
More’

6b Fri In-class debate Same readings as for the

14/10 God and evil previous class
See assignment info
Optional supplementary text:
Perry, ‘Dialogue on Good, Evil, and
the Existence of God’

7a Tue NO CLASS
18/10

7b Fri NO CLASS
21/10

8a Tue Renaissance & Early HB, pp. 163-174, 175-178, 180-

25/10 Modern Philosophy / 186: ‘After Aristotle: Bacon,
Rationalism: Hobbes, Machiavelli, and the
Descartes (1) Renaissance’ ― ‘Before the
“Discovery”: Africa and the
Americas’; [Part III: Between
Science and Religion: Modern Philos-
ophy and the Enlightenment] ‘Scien-
ce, Religion and the Meaning of
Modernism’, ‘Descartes and the New
Science’

5
 R: Descartes, Meditations I-II

8b Fri Rationalism: R: Descartes, Meditations II-III

28/10 Descartes (2) HB, pp. 186-194: ‘Spinoza, Leibniz,
Pascal and Newton’ ― ‘The
Enlightenment, Colonialism, and the
Eclipse of the Orient

9a Tue Rationalism: For readings see Canvas Presentation:

1/11 Spinoza African
Philosophy

9b Fri Spinoza on passions For readings see Canvas

4/11

10 a Tue DEADLINE Submit written assignment via

8/11 Canvas

10 b Fri Empiricism: HB, pp. 194-199: ‘Locke, Hume Presentation:

11/11 Hume (1) and Empiricism’ Descartes

R: Hume, ‘Enquiry’, Sections II-V

11 a Tue Empiricism: Re-read: R: Hume, ‘Enquiry’, Presentation:

15/11 Hume (2) Sections II-V Hume

HB, pp. 199-205: ‘Adam Smith, the

Moral Sentiments, and the Protest-
ant Ethic’ ― ‘Voltaire, Rousseau and
Revolution’

11 b Fri Rationalism & Empi- HB, pp. 205-214: ‘Immanuel Kant:

18/11 ricism – Synthesis: Saving Science’
Kant
R: Kant, Prolegomena §§1-5, 60

12 a Tue Towards the HB, pp. 230-235: ‘Mill, Darwin, and

22/11 Twentieth Century: Nietzsche: Consumerism, Energy,
Nietzsche (1) and Evolution’

R: Nietzsche, ‘On Truth and Lying in

a Non-Moral Sense’,

12 b Fri Nietzsche (2) R: The Gay Science (focus on: ‘The Presentation:
25/11 Madman’, ‘The Heaviest Weight’) Kant

6
13 a Tue Exam Preparation Submit questions via email to me– Presentation:
29/11 Class will form basis for addressing exam Nietzsche
material in class

13 b Fri EXAM
2/12

14 a Tue The Twentieth HB: 253-259, 274-279, 282-286:

6/12 Century/ ‘Zarathustra in the Trenches: the
Wittgenstein and Limits of Rationality’, ‘Hitler, the
positivism Holocaust, Positivism and
Existentialism’, ‘From Ideal to
Ordinary Language: from Cambridge
to Oxford’
R: Wittgenstein, ‘Tractatus Logico-
Philosophicus’ (selection),
‘Philosophical Investigations’
(selection)

14 b Fri The Twentieth HB, pp. 243-245,266-282: [Part

9/12 Century / IV: From Modernism to Postmoder-
Sartre (1) nism: The Twentieth Century] ‘The
Rejection of Idealism: A Century of
Horrors’, ‘Unamuno, Croce, and
Heidegger: The Tragic Sense of Life’
― ‘No Exit: The Existentialism of
Camus, Sartre, and Beauvoir’

R: Sartre, ‘Existentialism Is a
Humanism’

15 a Tue The Twentieth R: Sartre, ‘Existentialism Is a

13/12 Century / Humanism’
Sartre (2)

15 b Fri History of Philoso- See selection on Canvas and

16/12 phy, Its Canon and HB, pp. 286-305: ‘Women and
Its Future… Gender: The Feminization of Philo-
― Final Discussion sophy’ ― ‘World Philosophy: Promise
or Pretense’

16 a Tue Evaluation TBA

20/12