Problems and Issues of Intentionality: Medieval Roots and Contemporary Developments

Annotation

(NOTA BENE: THIS IS NOT A COURSE FOR ERASMUS STUDENTS. IF ERASMUS STUDENTS WANT TO ATTEND IT, THEY NEED TO PRELIMINARILY CONTACT THE TEACHER, FOR ONLY A FEW SPOTS WILL BE AVAILABLE)

Summer 2020

Charles University

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

(BA Module)

Anna Tropia, Ph.D.

Daniele De Santis, Ph. D.

Office hours:

Wednesday 11:00-12:00 (Tropia)

Thursday 11:00-12:00 (De Santis)

Email: [e-mail] [e-mail]

Problems and Issues of Intentionality:

Medieval Roots and Contemporary Developments

(An Introduction)

(Thursday 14:10-15:05)

Room: P225

General Description and Aims of the Module

That of intentionality is by far one of the most used and abused terms in contemporary philosophy (whether of analytic or continental tradition); however, its origins and conceptual development over the centuries are seldom taken into systematic account by scholars and philosophers. The goal of the present module is to offer a first historic-systematic discussion of the term intentionality, notably, of some its conceptual and terminological variations, with a special focus upon its first injection(s) in medieval times and its re-emergence in contemporary philosophy, namely, phenomenology and analytic or Anglo-Saxon philosophy.

Our aim does not simply consist in elucidating the concept of intentionality per se, but first and foremost in understanding the many issues connected to it, such as the concept of truth, the relation between thought and language as well as the more general gnoseological connection between the subject and the world.

To this end, excerpts and passages will be read and discussed from both medieval philosophers (from Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus to late scholastics, such as Francisco Suárez), and thinkers belonging to phenomenology and analytic philosophy (from Levinas to M. Henry and Patočka, from Chisholm to Sellars).

First Series

Seminar 1: Intentionality as the Grasp of Singularities. William of Ockham

Seminar 2: Intentionality: A Property of Language or of the Mind?

Second Series

Seminar 1: Scotus vs Ockham. The Mental World, Declined in a Twofold Way

Seminar 2: The Debate between W. Sellars and R. Chisholm

Third Series

Seminar 1: Cognition is An active Process. Some Views (14th-15th c.)

Seminar 2: Intentionality and Passivity: Levinas and Henry

Fourth Series

Seminar 1: Intentionality at the Eve of Modernity (16th c.)

Seminar 2: World and Existence: Patočka on Intentionality