Philosophy of Culture 3800-FK23-M-OG

The lecture is to be a systematic introduction into the specific character of the philosophical reflection on the phenomenon of culture. The starting point is the conviction that culture can be understood only as intertwined with man and vice versa. Man can be understood and can understand him-/herself only within the horizon of his-/her entanglement in culture, in its axiological, symbolic, imaginative dimensions. Man can be given to him-/herself only through culturally determined forms of experiencing his-/her being-in-the-world. The crucial category will be that of cultural experience and the main methodological perspective will be the anthropological philosophy of culture, which point at and analyze the relations between man and culture. The particular accent will be put on the dynamic, polyphonic, multidimensional and tensive character of culture.

In the first semester the lecture will be concentrated on the methodological issues and selected aspects of contemporary culture. In the first part we will analyze: methodological status of philosophy of culture and its relation to other sciences of culture (sociology of culture, cultural anthropology, cultural studies); philosophy of culture’s realtion to other philosophical subdisciplines (aesthetics, social philosophy, ethics, ontology); different ways of philosophical conceptualization of culture. In the second part we will analyze particular topics concerning contemporary culture such as: the body as a space of cultural experience; dynamics of cultural change and its influence on human self-understanding; experience of a destruction of cultural forms of self-understanding; changes of the cultural identity (individual and collective): interculturalism, transculturalism, nomadism. All these topics will be analyzed in the light of tensions characteristic for contemporary culture (if not for culture in general): essence – semblance; arche – telos; immanence – transcendence; participation – alienation; identity – otherness.

In the second semester the lecture will center on the interpretation of selected motives from the culture and literature of ancient Greece considered as hermeneutical categories helpful in understanding, evaluating and characterizing various phenomena and problems of contemporary culture, with a special focus on the problems of identity and specificity of European or "Western" culture. These categories will be presented as tensions permeating Greek culture and thought on their various levels, such as: "thymos" vs. "nous", "the palace" vs. "agora", "arete" vs. "sophrosyne", "tragedy" vs. "philosophy", "democracy" vs. "tyranny", "divine" vs. "human", "equality" vs. "inequality".

Type of course

general courses
elective monographs

Course coordinators

Przemysław Bursztyka
Marcin Rychter

Learning outcomes

After the course student knows and understands:
- on a deeper level – different methods and argumentative strategies used in philosophy of culture;
- the methods of interpreting philosophical text;
- specialist philosophical terminology in Polish;
- the main directions of development and the most important achievements in the field of philosophy of culture;
- on a deeper level – norms constituting and regulating social structures and institutions as well as sources of these norms, their nature, changes and ways they influence human behavior;
- on a deeper level – complex nature of language as well as its historical changeability;
- on a deeper level – the role of philosophical reflection in shaping culture;
- on a deeper level – the interrelations between forming of philosophical ideas and cultural and social changes; understands the fundamental role philosophical ideas play in creating the cultural works and institutions.

After the course student can:
- interpret philosophical text on his/her own; creatively comment as well as confront theses derived from different philosophical texts;
- determine the importance of created theses for the analyzed problem or argumentation;
- analyze philosophical arguments, identify their crucial theses and premises and reveal the interrelations between them;
- identify complex argumentative strategies in oral and written utterances;
- reveal defects and logical mistakes of oral and written utterances and determine an impact of these mistakes on the persuasiveness of those utterances;
- use, in a creative and innovative way, the philosophical and methodological knowledge while formulating hypotheses and critical argumentations;
- create and creatively reconstruct argumentations characteristic for different philosophical standpoints, while taking into consideration types of argumentation specific for each of them and being able to point out the differences and similarities between them;
- gain knowledge, develop research skills and plan research projects on his/her own;
- reveal the interrelations between forming philosophical ideas and social-cultural processes.

After the course student is well prepared to:
- identify knowledge and skills he/she acquired;
- undertake and initiate, on his/her own, professional activities as well as plan and organize their course;
- notice and formulate the ethical problems related to his/her research work and his/her responsibility before co-researchers and other members of society, and to actively search the ways of solving these problems;
- actively participate in social and cultural life; he/she is interested in new, original philosophical conceptions in relation to other part of social and cultural life;
- actively work for maintaining the philosophical heritage and for using it in understanding social and cultural events

Assessment criteria

The final grade will be based on: a written essay on a topic related to the problematic of the lecture. Active participation in discussions during the lecture will also be taken into consideration.
Assessed will be: the knowledge of methods and the argumentative strategies used in philosophy of culture; the broader knowledge of terminology specific for philosophy of culture, as well as the ability to correctly use this terminology; the ability of self-reliant and critical analysis of a given philosophical text; the ability to critically analyze philosophical theories, identify their main premises, theses and implications; the ability to create – on the basis of the knowledge acquired during the course – hypotheses and critical argumentation; the ability of critical comparative analysis of different philosophical conceptions.

Number of absences: 2 in a semester

Bibliography

Z. Rosińska, J. Michalik (red.) „Co to jest filozofia kultury?”
K. Okopień, “Wykłady z ontologii kultury i inne pisma filozoficzne”
R. Konersmann, „Filozofia kultury. Wprowadzenie”
G. Simmel, „Filozofia kultury”
E. Cassirer, „Esej o człowieku. Wprowadzenie do filozofii kultury”
E. Cassirer, „Logika nauk o kulturze”
R. Benedict, "Wzory kultury"
C. Geertz, "Interpretacja kultur"
E. Husserl, “Kryzys europejskiego człowieczeństwa a filozofia”
Z. Bauman, “Ciało i przemoc w obliczu ponowoczesności”
A. Giddens, “Nowoczesność i tożsamość: ‘Ja’ i społeczeństwo w epoce późnej nowoczesności”

Eric B. Dodds - "Grecy i irracjonalność"
Hezjod - "Prace i dnie", "Teogonia"
Homer - "Iliada", "Odyseja"
Werner Jaeger - "Paideia"
Karl Kerenyi "Mitologia Greków", Dionizos
Adam Krokiewicz - "Moralność Homera i etyka Hezjoda"
Walter Otto - "Teofania", "Bogowie Grecji"
Bruno Snell - "Odkrycie ducha"
Sofokles - "Edyp król", "Antygona"
Jean-Pierre Vernant - "Mit i religia starożytnej Grecji"
Tadeusz Zieliński - "Po co nam Homer?"

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:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 3800-FK23-M-OG in USOSweb