- Inter-faculty Studies in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Computer Science
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Mathematics
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Computer Science
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Mathematics
Education toward Moral Decision-Making Maturity: Antigone and the Hermeneutic Conflict of Interpretation 2300-EMG-OG
In the final stanza of Antigone, the chorus representing the people of Thebes (most probably the old men as the young have died in the battle) praises wisdom on the way to happiness: “There is no happiness where there is no wisdom: πολλώ το φρονείν ευδαιμονίας πρώτον υπάρχει. In the pursuit of wisdom, a human being is questioning the capacity of reasoning and experiences different conflicts, particularly at a time of crisis (Karl Jaspers’ Grenzsituationen in his Psychologie der Weltanschauungen). Our hermeneutic reading of Sophocles’ Antigone addresses a series of accounts of social and religious conflicts (the Athenian culture clash between the laws of the state and their religious convictions) without falling victim to the moralistic interpretation of Antigone as the ultimate figure of ethical resistance. By considering the perspectives of people involved in the conflict, we recognize not only uncertainty and the limits of knowledge, but the importance of wise judgment and personal integrity. Despite the differences in understanding the continuity between life and after-death, the question of personal identity and the general transmutation presents the real task for thinking. Understanding the moral imperative of facing tragic conflicts of goods and values cannot be separated from the existential question of the (in)capability of love and the fragility of goodness.
Type of course
Learning outcomes
Knowledge:
o student is familiar with new literature on the literature as indicated in bibliography
o is familiar with the hermeneutics of education
o knows the state of research in the hermeneutics of education and is able to design an innovative research project
Skills:
o can identify philosophical aspects of education
o can address the importance of feelings (curiosity, patience, courage, uncertainty, self-esteem) and validates them in the process of learning
o has skills in presenting aspects of philosophical hermeneutics in discussing issues in contemporary education in an international setting
o can effectively communicate with other scholars in hermeneutic philosophy and education
o as a creative and insightful student shows depth in thinking and elaborating of original and novel ideas
Social competences:
o appreciates the need to learn to understand one’s life
o can set measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals and ways to achieve them in the context of academic, professional, and social activity
o sees the need of dialogue between different academic disciplines and schools of thought
Assessment criteria
Assessment criteria
Students must attend classes, actively participate in discussions, and write a research paper of ca. 2500 words. The grade will be based on the paper 50%. Students should clear their topic with the instructor before writing. Final revised paper due Friday, May 29, 2021. Attendance/ Active in-class participation (50%). Along with the final paper students are required to submit a detailed report about their attendance and self-evaluation of their activity in the class.
Bibliography
Judith Butler, Antigone’s Claim: Kinship between Life and Death (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000).
Charles Freeland, Antigone in Her Unbearable Splendor: New Essays on Jacques Lacan’s The Ethics of Psychoanalysis (Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 2013)
Martha Nussbaum, The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Literature and Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
Sophocles, Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone, trans. David Grene (Chicago: University of Chicago Publishers, 1991).
Jonathan Strauss, Private Lives, Public Deaths: Antigone and the Invention of Individuality (New York: Fordham University Press, 2013).
Andrzej Wierciński, Existentia Hermeneutica: Understanding as the Mode of Being in the World (Zurich: LIT, 2019).
Andrzej Wierciński, Hermeneutics of Education: Exploring and Experiencing the Unpredictability of Education (Zurich: LIT, 2019).
Slavoj Žižek, Antigone (New York: Bloomsbury, 2016).
Additional information
Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:
- Inter-faculty Studies in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Computer Science
- Bachelor's degree, first cycle programme, Mathematics
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Computer Science
- Master's degree, second cycle programme, Mathematics
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: