This course contributes to the professional profile by guiding the student through the history of modern philosophy from a dual perspective: to understand the questions and the best way to pose them, and to explore the various attempts at answers?linked to their historical circumstances?and discern what we have inherited from that past that shapes us. This course provides the ideal foundation to understand many of the great current questions, as a large part of the essential concepts of our time (not only philosophical but also social, political, religious, and economic) were forged during the Modern Era.
UNIT 1: Beginnings of Modern Thought. The Renaissance
? Topic 1.1. General characteristics of the Renaissance
? Topic 1.2. The Italian Renaissance: diversity of currents
? Topic 1.3. Humanism in the rest of Europe: Erasmus of Rotterdam, Thomas More, Francisco de Vitoria, and the School of Salamanca
UNIT 2: The End of the Renaissance: The Religious Question and Skepticism
? Topic 2.1. The Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther and John Calvin
? Topic 2.2. Skepticism and fideism in Michel de Montaigne
? Topic 2.3. The religious question in the 17th century
UNIT 3: Rationalism
? Topic 4.1. Descartes in context: the method to know the truth
? Topic 4.2. Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy: main ideas
? Topic 4.3. Baruch Spinoza: The Political Treatises
? Topic 4.4. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz: Metaphysics and knowledge
UNIT 4: Empiricism
? Topic 5.1. Francis Bacon: the new method
? Topic 5.2. John Locke: natural law and political liberalism
? Topic 5.3. David Hume: Analysis of human understanding
UNIT 5: Enlightenment
? Topic 6.1. The French Enlightenment and the Encyclopédie
? Topic 6.2. Immanuel Kant: culmination of the Enlightenment
To develop the course, the following strategies will be employed:
Expository method: Presentation of theoretical content through in-person lectures.
Text analysis and commentary: Personal reading and commentary of key texts that contain the main content of the course.
Written presentation: Preparation of individual written assignments, which will later be discussed in individual tutorials or in class.
Oral presentation: Student presentations and discussions, either during individual tutorials or in class.
Tutorials: In order to personalize the learning process as much as possible, the course includes a schedule of tutorials where students can clarify doubts, explore new areas of interest, review assignments, and maintain a continuous learning approach to the subject.
To be assessed in the ordinary examination session, it is essential to have completed all activities subject to evaluation. Assessable activities must be submitted on the dates indicated by the teaching staff. If, for any duly justified reason communicated to the teaching staff, they could not be submitted within the established period, they may be submitted before the date of the course?s final exam so that the instructor can grade them. In this case, however, the instructor is not obliged to provide feedback on those activities.
Furthermore, students have the right to take the final written exam even if they have not submitted all other assessable activities. However, the final grade for the course will only be calculated if all activities have been submitted, according to the evaluation criteria and weightings established in this syllabus. If any assessable activity has not been submitted or completed, it will be recorded as ?Not Submitted? on the grade report for that session.
EXTRAORDINARY EXAM SESSION (IN-PERSON/REMOTE):
The evaluation criteria are the same as in the ordinary session, meaning that all assessable activities required in the course must be submitted. Grades for completed activities will be retained until pending activities are completed. The same weighting criteria as in the ordinary assessment will apply.
USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS:
Use of AI tools: If AI tools are used in any activity, a paragraph must be included specifying how AI was used and what prompts or instructions were employed to obtain the results incorporated into the work. Failure to do so constitutes a violation of academic honesty policies.
Written Exam: 40%.
Task Analysis: Written assignments and text commentary: 20%.
Oral Exams: 25%.
Task Analysis: Presentation and defense of completed work and active participation of the student, both in the classroom and during tutorials: 15%.
REALE, G Y ANTISERI, D., Historia del pensamiento filosófico y científico, vol. 2 Barcelona, Herder, 2010.
MOISÉS GONZÁLEZ, Renacimiento y Modernidad. Madrid, Tecnos, 2017.
GARCÍA MORENTE, M. Lecciones preliminares de Filosofía. Madrid, Encuentro, 2007.
Complementary bibliography will be provided for each unit of the course at the beginning of each unit.