Lehrende: Dr. Magali Roques; Prof. Dr. Stephan Schmid; Dr. Hamid Taieb
Veranstaltungsart: Hauptseminar
Anzeige im Stundenplan:
Semesterwochenstunden: 2
Credits: 4,0
Unterrichtssprache: Deutsch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: 1 | 25
Kontingentschema: Phil_Standard_WS1415
Weitere Informationen: Für den erfolgreichen Besuch dieser Veranstaltung im Rahmen des Fachspezifischen Wahbereichs werden 4 LP angerechnet.
Kommentare/ Inhalte: Concepts play a central role in philosophy. In fact, many have held that the very task of philosophy is analysing concepts. But what are concepts and why should we assume that they exist in the first place? Are they abstract entities that we grasp somehow in thinking? Or are they rather mental particulars: actually occurring things in our head or mind when we think about something? Or are concepts certain dispositions or abilities (perhaps the ability to classify things)? And what exactly is the structure of a concept? Does a concept consist of certain elements (its marks), which we refer to when we define a concept? Or are concepts rather paradigmatic instances of a certain kind in comparison to which we tend to sort other things as exemplars of this kind as well? And how do we acquire concepts? Are they innate and structure our thinking from the outset? Or do we rather form them in consequence of our experience of things? Questions upon questions. Interestingly, they have bothered philosophers since the very beginning and they tend to puzzle philosophers of our days as well. In this Hauptseminar - co-taught with Magali Roques and Hamid Taieb - we will go through the rich history of philosophical thinking - from the Middle Ages until the present - and try to understand the various answers philosophers have given to them and get clear about their similarities and differences. Amongst others, we will read texts (mostly in English translation) from Thomas Aquinas, William Ockham, René Descartes, Nicolas Malebranche, John Locke, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, Bernard Bolzano, Franz Brentano, and Ludwig Wittgenstein.
Literatur: E. Margolis & S. Laurence: “Concepts and Cognitive Science”, in Id. (eds.), Concepts: Core Readings, Cambridge, MA, 1999, 3-81. E. Margolis & S. Laurence: “Concepts”, in Zalta, E.N. (ed.), Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2011.
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