UCL - Elements of philosophy

[PSP1121]

[30h] 3 credits

This course is taught in the 1st semester.

Teacher(s): Jean Leclercq

Language: French

Level: First

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

- To introduce the student to the philosophical discourse and to its history, backed on themes concerning the psychological sciences.
- To work out a philosophical frame allowing the psychology students to situate:
a) theories and practices tackled along their formation
b) psychology in the context of the other scientific fields (nature sciences and human sciences) and in the context of western culture.
- To supply the basic elements of a philosophical culture.
- To develop the aptitude for making the most of this culture by the approach of some classical or recent philosophical texts, and by the writing of works proving the understanding, not only of historiographic stakes but also of thematic stakes of the texts considered.
This course will be completed by the course of Epistemology, conceived in the same line.

Main themes

The important changes in the evolution of western philosophy. The aim is to show the role played by the context in the appearance of the various fields and themes, constituting today in Europe the corpus called "philosophy" and in the appearance of some of its main questions related to psychology.
Some themes of the psychological sciences will be tackled in the eyes of the philosophical discourse. For each theme, the history of the way it has been examined in philosophy will be presented, up to contemporary philosophy. For example:
- relationship of man with nature
- nature, environment, mental health
- the question of norm and of normality
- ethics and psychology
- conscience, soul, freedom
It will then be shown how the understanding of the scope of these fields and of these questions is changing along western history

Content and teaching methods

The aim of the course is to introduce to philosophical reflection and practice, favouring historical and thematic approaches. The professor will present, on one hand, the main philosophical currents, evidencing their specificity and their creative contribution, and on the other hand, the most representative authors. Particular attention will also be given to the appearance of some themes specific of the philosophical questioning (relationship of man with nature, articulation of freedom and determinisms, questions of norm and normality, relationships between ethics and psychology, notions of "conscience" and "soul"). So that they won't stay apart, their impact on some visions of the world will be shown. With these "bases" of a philsophical culture, by backing their own reflection on the wisdom of big forerunners, the students should be able to initiate a personal answer to the fundamental questions of existence and to understand the thinking and representative systems informing our contemporary culture.
As the art of living is also an art of reading, selections of major philosophical texts will be discussed during the course in order to emphasise the point.
- reference textbooks will be presented at the start of the course and pedagogic support will be provided during the four-month period.
- a tutorial is planned and a training test will be advised.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

a) continual assessment by assistants : participation to the practice (20% of the points) and writing of short works (20% of the points)
b) final assessment by the professor: oral exam on the whole matter of the lectures (60%)
c) synthetic assessment (deliberation note): weighting according to a) and b).
- course outline
- readings (philosophical texts illustrating the lectures and to be analysed individually or in group
- computer hardware