Course 2024-2025

History of the philosophy of Modern Times [LPHIB003]

  • 3 credits
  • 30h
  • 1st quarter
Language of instruction: French / Français

Objectives

The aim of this course is to enable the student to understand some of the great philosophical controversies that have traversed the Modern Era and to raise awareness of the way in which works respond to each other in order to displace and take up philosophical problems. The course also aims to indicate how the philosophical concepts developed during this period remain necessary for a full understanding of what constitutes our current philosophical situation.

Content

Theme of the course: Subjectivity, metaphysics and science from Descartes to Kant. From Descartes to Kant, from the cogito to the transcendental subject, the course will follow the discovery and progressive constitution of the concept of subjectivity as it still determines, positively or negatively, our most contemporary thought. The course also pays particular attention to the way in which metaphysics and science are set up from Descartes onwards and determine each other. In addition, by largely evoking several contemporary thinkers (Foucault, Badiou, Derrida, Ricoeur, Lévinas, Henry, Heidegger, Husserl,...), it is a question of indicating how the philosophy of the Modern Times constitutes a necessary referent for the comprehension of several themes of contemporary philosophy; to also indicate how concepts resulting from the philosophical tradition can be reactivated to inspire new concepts to be worked out according to our own problems.


Prerequisites

The teaching units from one of the following lists:

  1. Introduction générale à la philosophie [LPHIB105]
  2. Introduction à la philosophie [DROIB132]

Teaching methods

Lectures

Evaluations

Oral examination

Recommended readings

A Syllabus of texts is offered to students Further reading: D. Giovannangeli, "Finitude and representation. Six leçons sur l'apparaitre de Descartes à l'ontologie phénoménologique", Ousia, 2003.

Language of instruction

French / Français

Location for course

NAMUR

Organizer

Faculté de philosophie et lettres
Rue de Bruxelles, 61
5000 NAMUR

Degree of Reference

Undergraduate Degree