Syllabus
1. Human Genome Project, self-understanding of the human being, racism, the position of Homo sapiens sapiens in an evolutionary tree.
2. A human and an animal: difference rather quantitative or qualitative? Ethical concerns: problem of patenting of genes, insurance companies, employment and unemployment for the reasons of genetic composition.
3. Naturalistic fallacy. "Is" and "ought", the difference between "natural" nad "moral"
4. The evolutionary origin of Homo sapiens sapiens.
5. The influence of evolutionary biology nad eviolutionary psychology. The beginning of art and ethics in the course of an evolution of a man.
6. The causes of human behaviour: genes, environment, freedom. The ethics between behaviourism and genetic determinism.
7. The beginning of individual Homo sapiens sapiens. Embryology, status of the embryo.
8. The reproductive cloning, therapeutic cloning, attempts of the definition of human being and human person, ontological personalism and empirical functionalism.
9. The question of the "self". Neurofyziology, theory of identity, dualism between "brain" and "mind" and all the pros and cons.
Annotation
An attempt of the cross-section of the contemporary state of knowledge concerning human behaviour. The modern state of our knowledge concerning genetics of behaviour, evolutionary psychology, molecular genetics is confronted with the wide field of philosophy.
Genes ("nature"), environment ("nurture") and freedom of man are three possible phenomenons determining human behaviour. The course deals with human evolution and phylogeny as well as human ontogeny and is attempting to raise a question refer to the unity or the difference between "brain" and "mind".