General introduction to philosophy [LPHIB105]

Learning outcomes

This course has two aims: a historical and cultural aim, which is to provide the basis for a comprehensive educational training in philosophy, by identifying the major moments in which human beings have sought to take a stance on questions of existence, others, art or God; and a philosophical aim, which is to introduce students to philosophical questioning as such and to understand the nature of the enigma that human beings are for themselves.

Content

This course is structured in four parts. 1. The first part deals with the birth of the idea of reason as it appeared at one of the founding moments of our Western civilisation, in Greece a few centuries before our era. 2. The second part shows in what sense medieval philosophy, while maintaining the heritage of Greek thought, takes account of the appearance and development of Christianity and leads to the discovery of interiority. 3. The third part of the course aims to show how modern philosophy, from Descartes onwards, has progressively focused on the subject in its capacity to become aware of itself, of things and of the world in which it lives. 4. The fourth part of the course aims to highlight certain aspects of contemporary philosophy, which can be characterised by its ever-increasing attention to existence and the narrative search for identity. The aim of this 4-part course is to propose certain elements for understanding the meaning of our experience as human beings.