Content (Syllabus outline)
Medieval philosophy: christianity and philosophy, the fusion of platonism and christianity.
Tthe preinterpretation of Plato and Aristotle: early scholasticism, the dispute about universals, realism, nominalism, conceptualism, Boetius, Eriugena, Abelard, high scholasticism, St. Thomas Aquinas, late scholasticism, Duns Scotus, William Ockham – the way to scientific debate, Ockham's razor.
The beginnings of modern science from Copernicus to Newton, uncovering of universe, Galileo, the principle of objectiveness in science, Newton, laws of motion, relation between religion and scientific discoveries.
Renaissance and Humanism: Bruno, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Morus, Michel de Montaigne and Machiavelli.
Reformation: Luther, Calvin, religion and ethics.
Rationalism of the 17th century: common characteristics, role and importance of reason, innate ideas, Descartes, new method, methodical doubt, mathesis universalis, cogito, dualism of mind and body, Spinoza, pantheism, deus sive natura, ethics, Leibniz, monadologie, pre-establish harmony, , science and philosophy, logical laws, reason's and fact's truths.
British empiricism: F. Bacon, science and philosophy, scientific method, mastery of nature, criticism of idols, knowledge is power, induction, Hobbes, mental processes as material motions in the human head, an instinct of self-preservation, everybory fighting against everybody, homo homini lupus, Locke, importance of experience, man as tabula rasa, Berkeley, Irish philosopher, theory of immaterialism, Hume, Scottish philosopher, moderate scepticism, enquiry concerning human understanding, criticism of metaphysics, causation as habitude.
The Age of enlightenment: Voltaire, liberalism, criticism of political partialities and dogmatism, revolutionary open-minded thinking, problem of evil in the world, Montesquieu, Encyclopeadia, Diderot, Rousseau, the transition to criticism on the Age of enlightenment, criticism of civilization, man as a free-born being, emotion as the guide in life and judgement, human society, a sovereign or collective being with his own will, social contract, education, liberty, equality, fraternity.
German classical philosophy: philosophizing in the system, influence of French revolution, revolution in thoughts, importance of the Age of enlightenment, Kant, pre-crtitical and critical period, Copernicus' turn, transcendental idealism, analytics of concepts, antinomies, transendental dialectics, categorical imperative, problem of science and society, Fichte, the science about science as real idealism, anti-Semitism and antifeminism, Schelling, the system of transcendental idealism, Hegel, the system of absolute idealism, dialectics, fenomenology of spirit, science of logics, philosophy of history.
Philosophy of life: Schopenhauer, the precursor, voluntarism, pessimism. Nietzsche, God is dead, superman, eternal returning, nihilism, desire for power, immoralism, Dilthey, the foundation of hermeneutics, Bergson, creative evolution.
Positivism: Comte, foundation of positivism, relation between philosophy and sociology, J. S. Mill, utilitarianism, individual liberty and social pluralism against the tirranny of crowd and public opinion.
New-Kantism: the methapysical reaction against positivism, Marburg's logicistical school, Cohen, Natorp, Cassirer, Vorländer, Badens's school of cultural history and axiology, Windelband, Rickert, Bauch.
Historical materialism or scientific socialism: Feuerbach, Marx and Engels, socialism and revolution, criticism of capitalism and bourgeois cosmos, the revolutionary change of the world, historical perspective.
