The study of the knowledge problem is a fundamental dimension of philosophical work; therefore, this course examines essential issues that are relevant to the rest of the degree program. Students will develop the ability to read texts concerning the method and nature of philosophical reflection on knowledge; to understand the meaning and depth of certain classical questions raised by major philosophers; to become familiar with current debates involving both philosophers and scientists?such as the mind-brain problem; and to grasp the historical development of epistemology and the reasons behind the emergence of different schools of thought.
Given the interdisciplinary nature of the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics degree, the course will place special emphasis on epistemological questions relevant to the social sciences and the humanities. This will enable a productive exchange between epistemology in its strictly philosophical sense and the challenges that arise in the fields of the humanities, politics, and economics.
UNIT I: Historical Part
Topic 1: Introduction ? The Nature of Human Knowledge
1.1 Theory of knowledge and theory of science
1.2 The theory of knowledge and its relationship with other philosophical disciplines
Topic 2: Major Epistemological Schools up to the 19th Century
2.1 Classical philosophy (Plato and Aristotle)
2.2 Medieval philosophy (Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus)
2.3 The birth of modern science; 17th-century rationalism and innatism (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz)
2.4 British empiricism: Locke, Berkeley, and Hume
2.5 Kant and the Copernican revolution
2.6 Classical German idealism: Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel
Topic 3: Major Epistemological Schools of the 19th and 20th Centuries
3.1 The crisis of idealism
3.2 Positivism: Comte, Mill, and Mach
3.3 The theory of evolution
3.4 Marx and Engels
3.5 Neo-Kantianism
3.6 French epistemology: Poincaré and Duhem
3.7 Husserl?s phenomenology
3.8 The birth of analytic philosophy
3.9 Logical positivism and the early Wittgenstein
3.10 Gadamer and hermeneutics
3.11 The Frankfurt School
3.12 Contemporary epistemology: Popper, Albert, Kuhn, Lakatos, Feyerabend
3.13 Contemporary evolutionary epistemologies
Topic 4: Key Milestones in Neuroscience and Contemporary Cognitive Sciences
4.1 Overview of the development of knowledge about the brain and nervous system
4.2 19th-century neuroanatomy and the localization of mental functions
4.3 Evolutionary theory and the development of human mentality
4.4 Cajal and the neuron doctrine
4.5 Wundt?s empirical psychology
4.6 Freud?s psychoanalysis
4.7 Gestalt theory
4.8 Behaviorism; the emergence of neuroscience as an integrative discipline
4.9 The cognitive revolution
4.10 Cybernetics and artificial intelligence
4.11 Recent discoveries about memory, learning, emotions, language, and consciousness: synaptic reinforcement, mirror neurons
UNIT II: Systematic Part
Topic 5: Human Knowledge ? Elements, Functions, Perspectives, Evolution
5.1 Elements of human knowledge: reality, sensation, perception, conscious integration
5.2 Information and knowledge
5.3 Knowledge from the perspectives of biology and psychology
5.4 Cognitive levels throughout evolution
5.5 Functions of knowledge
Topic 6: Knowledge and Theories of Truth ? Empiricism, Idealism, Positivism, Critical Realism
6.1 Universality, necessity, and objectivity
6.2 Knowledge, certainty, and provisionality
6.3 Induction, abstraction, and deduction
6.4 Knowledge and the isomorphism between thought and reality
6.5 Being, thought, concept, and judgment
6.6 Particularity and universality
6.7 Knowledge and theories of language and symbol
6.8 Knowledge as a discursive process
Topic 7: The Scientific Method and the Ideal of Knowledge ? Hypotheses and Testing
7.1 Mathematical judgments
7.2 Physics, chemistry, and biology
7.3 Science and mathematization
7.4 Science and constructivism
7.5 Law, model, and normativity
7.6 Determinism and indeterminism
7.7 Explanation and prediction
7.8 The division between natural, social, and human sciences
7.9 Toward an integration of scientific knowledge
Topic 8: The Nature of the Human Mind
8.1 General overview
8.2 Historical development
8.3 Main approaches: materialist monism, spiritualist monism, interactionist dualism, emergentist materialism, eliminativism, non-reductive materialism
8.4 Neural Darwinism
8.5 The Global Workspace Theory model
Topic 9: In Summary ? What Is Knowledge?
9.1 Philosophy, biology, and psychology
9.2 Knowledge, language, and freedom
9.3 Knowledge and theory of mind
? Expository method: Presentation of theoretical content through in-person classes and supporting materials available on the online platform.
? Text and document analysis: Independent reading of materials that cover the main content of the course.
? Individual preparation and group discussion in collaborative sessions (in-person or virtual).
? Oral presentation method: Student-led presentations and expositions.
? Written presentation method: Completion and submission of thematic unit questionnaires by the student.
Ordinary Call : In order to be evaluated during the ordinary call, students must complete all required assessment activities. These activities must be submitted by the deadlines established by the instructor. If, for a duly justified reason and with prior notice to the instructor, a student is unable to submit the activities within the designated period, they may still be submitted before the date of the final exam, allowing the instructor to grade them. In such cases, however, the instructor is not obliged to provide feedback on the late submissions.
Students have the right to take the final written exam even if they have not submitted all the required coursework. However, the final grade for the course will only be calculated if all assessment activities have been submitted, and in accordance with the evaluation criteria and weightings specified in this syllabus. If any required activity is not submitted or completed, the final record for the course will indicate ?Not Submitted? for the ordinary call.
Extraordinary Call: The evaluation criteria for the extraordinary call are the same as those ones for the ordinary call, meaning that all assessment activities from the course must be submitted. Grades for any activities already completed (including the final written exam) will be retained while awaiting submission of the remaining activities. The same weighting criteria as in the ordinary call will apply.
This policy is valid only for the current academic year. If the student does not pass during the extraordinary call, re-enrollment in the course will require repeating it in full.
? Midterm and Final Synthesis Tests: These will be written and conducted in person. The midterm will take place at the end of October, and the final during the first regular exam period: 30%
? Individual presentations and class participation: 10%
? Task analysis: Written assignments responding to the questions related to each topic: 60%
The instructor will not use a standard textbook as such, but rather lecture notes for each topic, which will be uploaded weekly to the course?s Moodle platform.
The following works may serve as references for the topics covered:
-Baars, B.J. (ed.), Cognition, Brain, and Consciousness. Introduction to Cognitive
Neuroscience, Elsevier, Amsterdam 2010.
Blanco, C. Grandes problemas filosóficos, Síntesis, Madrid 2015.
Copleston, F. Historia de la Filosofía, Ariel, Barcelona 1999.
Russell, B. El Conocimiento Humano. Su Alcance y Sus Límites, Planeta Barcelona
1992.
Mejía Fernández, R. El giro fenomenológico en las neurociencias cognitivas: de
Francisco Varela a Shaun Gallagher, AUSP, Barcelona 2019.
Sánchez Meca, D. Teoría del Conocimiento, Dykinson, Madrid 2001.
Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy (artículos online).
Blanco, C. Historia de la neurociencia. El conocimiento del cerebro y la mente
desde una perspectiva interdisciplinar, Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid 2014.
Blanco, C. La integración del conocimiento, Evohé, Madrid 2018.
Chalmers, D. (ed.), Philosophy of Mind: Classical and Contemporary Readings,
Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002.
Changeux, J.-P. Sobre lo verdadero, lo bello y el bien, Katz Editores, Buenos Aires
2010.
Monserrat, J. Epistemología Evolutiva y Teoría de la Ciencia, Pontificia
Universidad de Comillas, Madrid 1984.
Rábade, S. Teoría del conocimiento, Akal, Madrid 1995.
Russell, B. Los Problemas de la Filosofía, Labor, Barcelona 1994.