Syllabus
1.10.
Introduction - Philosophical Anthropology as the Study of Images of the Human 8. 10. class cancelled - immatriculation 15.10.
The Myth of Intelligence. How to recognize "Homo Sapiens"?
Turing, Alan, "Computing Machinery and Intelligence", Mind 49, pp. 433-460, in Heil´s Anthology 22.10. class cancelled - conference 29.10.
Philosophical Dualism. The Body-Mind Problem.
Descartes, Rene, Meditations on the First Philosophy (excerpts, pp. 35-50), in Heil´s Anthology 5.11.
There Are No Owls. Robots, Androids, and "More Human than Human".
Dick, Philip K., Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Doubleday 1968 (1st Printing).
Blade Runner, Ridley Scott (dir.), 1982. student presentation 10.11. SUNDAY
Substitute class - City as the Outward Expression of Existential Needs, a Guided Tour of Prague and a colloquium (start at 1PM, until approximately 5PM) 12.11.
Giving a Ride to My Genes. The Body We Do Not Know.
Dawkins, Richard, The Selfish Gene, Oxford University Press 1976 (1st Printing), pp. 1-65. student presentation 19.11.
Culture Strikes Back: The Superorganic View of the Human
Kroeber, Alfred L., "The Superorganic", American Anthropologist 19/2 (1917), pp. 163-213. student presentation 26.11. class cancelled - conference 3.12.
Morality, Self-Deception, Values. The Anatomy of How to Become Who We Are.
Nietzsche, Friedrich, The Genealogy of Morals, 1st Essay, pp. 10-34. 10.12.
Conditio Humana in Mozart´s Don Giovanni
Mozart, W.A., Don Giovanni (any performance, preferably after reading the libretto) 17.12. class cancelled - research stay abroad 7.1.2020 class cancelled - research stay abroad
Annotation
In the contemporary philosophical thought it becomes the crucial problem how to accommodate our everyday notion of ourselves with the scientific understanding of us, humans. There plainly is a clash between the "human being" as a moral, conscious, intentional being and the scientifically constituted view of the "homo sapiens". We will follow and discuss some of the most important conceptions of "conditio humana", i.e. of the fundamental, essential or in other ways leading conceptions of "what makes us human". As a result, this course aims to introduce students into the "problem" of defining what is the "truly" human feature or the "essentially human" character. Among others, we will be dealing with:
1. the problem of dualistic conceptions of the human being.
2. attempts at a holistic or synthetic concpetion of the human being.
3. evolutionary conceptions of homo sapiens and its philosophical implications.
4. the "singularity" (or individuality) and "generality" (or universality) of a (human) person.
5. the problem of living a (truly) human life: everyday ethics and philosophical anthropology.