Description
Truth and reason. “Mind, Science and Society: Current Issues”. The mind-science-society nexus has been problematised in recent decades between realist and constructivist positions on truth and mind. By studying and participating in the development of the various thematic units, students will be able to introduce themselves more generally to independent research work and acquire the fundamental knowledge and skills to carry out a cross-disciplinary and contemporary reflection typical of master's degree studies. In addition, students will be introduced to the models and theories of truth which, at the beginning of the 21st century, have been altered by social and political introjections and manifestations, which modify our approach at all times in the plurality of sciences. Consequently, and as a result of the highly topical issues that we will address in our course, students will have the tools and research keys to reflect phenomenologically on the core of truth that can resist the society of control, in order to make the most of the irreducible human experience in an era of big data and the medicalisation of society.
Type Subject
Optativa
Semester
First
Credits
5.00
Previous Knowledge
Objectives
Contents

UNIT 1. Introduction

Topic 1: Preliminaries
1.1 Mind
1.2 Science
1.3 Society/Politics. Nexus.

UNIT 2. Mind-Science-Society Nexus

Topic 2: Knowledge and power
2.1 The concept of “biopolitics” (Foucault, Esposito, Deleuze). Critiques.
2.2. Epistemicide and cognitive revolution in current theories of truth.
2.3. “Dataism” and the numerical/artificial era.

Topic 3: A case in point: transhumanism
3.1. Introduction to transhumanism.
3.2. “Biopower” and truth.
3.3. Political history of medicalisation.
3.4. Biotic medicalisation vs. biopolitical medicalisation.

Topic 4: Relationship with culture
4.1. The concept of the “technological body”.
4.2. “Technoscience” and “technoculture”: misunderstandings of concepts.
4.3. The medicalisation of culture and the transcendence of life.

UNIT 3. Contemporary truth

Topic 5: Truth, bio-truth and post-truth
5.1. “Bio-truth” and cognitive neurosciences.
5.2. “Post-truth”: accreditation of the truth? Abuse of the prefix “post”.
5.3. The critical theory of truth. The city, necessary to justify the truth?
5.4. Love and truth: the transcendence of logocentrism.

Methodology

In-person methodology

The teaching methodology to be used in the teaching of the subject is as follows:

Classroom work:

1. Lectures. Lectures refer to a presentation by the lecturer of the theoretical contents of the subject, orientation of the students on basic and advanced readings, as well as complementary sources of information and the establishment of guidelines and keys for carrying out the theoretical-practical tasks.
2. Continuous assessment. Assessment is an integrated part of the teaching-learning process. In this subject there will be continuous assessment that will combine the submission and presentation of assignments with the development of objective (written) tests throughout the semester. In addition, teachers will give feedback on the students’ progress.

Work or activities outside the classroom:

3. Autonomous work by students. The autonomous work of students consists, on the one hand, of reading selected texts and preparing outlines, summaries, concept maps, etc. based on them; and on the other hand, of preparing individual work, especially essays and oral presentations.
4. Tutorial sessions. All students will have the possibility of requesting individual or group tutorials, by appointment, from the teaching staff. These tutorials may be aimed at resolving doubts regarding both the content and the preparation of the assignments.

Evaluation

- Synthesis work on some of the contents of the course, in consultation with the teacher and under their tutorial supervision. Appropriate use of textual sources: leading philosophical texts. Textual and thematic organisation. Ability to raise philosophical issues surrounding the question of the mind, science and society; to articulate well-argued philosophical responses. 60%

- Final exam on the theoretical contents learnt. Clarity of exposition. Logical structure of the exposition. Conceptual order of the exposition.
-Suggest problems. 30%

- Active and productive participation in philosophical dialogues in the classroom. Listening skills, empathy, understanding of other people’s positions. Ability to suggest appropriate questions, answers, alternatives, and objections. Capacity for specifically philosophical dialogue. Correct use of philosophical vocabulary. 10%

Evaluation Criteria

EXTRAORDINARY EXAM SESSION:

The assessment criteria are the same as in the ordinary exam, so all the assessment activities considered in the course must be provided. Marks will be kept for all the activities carried out, pending the completion of any pending activities. The same criteria will be applied in this assessment as in the ordinary assessment.

Basic Bibliography

• Arendt, H. Verdad y mentira en la política, Buenos Aires: Adriana Hidalgo, 2014.
• Byung-Chul, H. Psicopolítica, Barcelona: Herder, 2014.
• Castoriadis, C. La institución imaginaria de la sociedad, Buenos Aires: Tusquets Editores, 2007.
• Conrad, P. The medicalization of society. On the transformation of human conditions into treatable disorders, Baltimore, MA: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007.
• Corominas, J. & Vicens, J. A. «L’època de la postveritat», Perifèria, 5, 2018.
• Deleuze, G. (2006), «Post-scriptum sobre las sociedades de control», Polis. Revista Latinoamericana, 13, 2006.
• Echeverría, J. «De la filosofia de la ciencia a la filosofia de la tecnociencia», Δαιμων. Revista Internacional de Filosofía, 50, 2010, pp. 31-41.
• Esposito, R. Comunidad, inmunidad y biopolítica, Barcelona: Herder, 2009.
• Foucault, M. «Crisis de la medicina o la crisis de la antimedicina», Revista Cubana de Salud Pública, 44, 1, 2018, pp. 172-183.
• Foucault, M. Historia política de la verdad. Una genealogía de la moral, Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 2016.
• Foucault, M. El nacimiento de la clínica, una arqueología de la mirada médica, México, D. F: Siglo XXI Editores, 2001.
• Foucault, M. La verdad y las formas jurídicas, Barcelona: Gedisa, 1996.
• Foucault, M. «Historia de la medicalización», Educación médica y salud, 11, 1, 1977, pp. 3-25.
• Gallagher, S. How the body shapes the mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
• García del Muro, J. Goodbye, veritat!, Lleida: Pagés, 2018.
• Hierro Pescador, J. Filosofía de la mente y de la ciencia cognitiva, Madrid: Akal, 2005.
• Hobbs, S. & Chiesa, M. «The myth of the “cognitive revolution”», European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 12, 2, 2011, pp. 385-394.
• Husserl, E. La filosofía, ciencia rigurosa, Madrid: Encuentro, 2009.
• Lowe, E. J. Filosofía de la mente, Barcelona: Idea Books, 2000.
• Mejía Fernández, R. Pensar la Inteligencia Artificial. El legado de Hubert Dreyfus en fenomenología, Aula Magna - McGraw-Hill Interamericana, 2020 [en impremta].
• Mejía Fernández, R. «Caldrà una fenomenologia de l’amor? Un esbós a partir d’Emmanuel Lévinas i Jean-Luc Marion», Comprendre. Revista Catalana de Filosofia, 2020 [en impremta].
• Mejía Fernández, R. El giro fenomenológico en las neurociencias cognitives: de Francisco Varela a Shaun Gallagher, Barcelona: Edicions S. Pacià, 2019.
• Mejía Fernández, R. «El naturalismo no-reduccionista de la mente en Thomas Nagel. Una lectura de La mente y el cosmos», Comunicació, 136, 2019, pp. 25-48.
• Mejía Fernández, R. «Una lectura perspectivista de la neurofenomenología: Francisco Varela y Ronald Giere», Investigaciones Fenomenológicas, 14, 2017, pp. 167-190.
• Miller, G. A. «The cognitive revolution: a historical perspective», Trends in Cognitive Science, 7, 3, 2003, pp. 141-144.
• Nicolás, J. A. & Frápoli, M. J. Teorías contemporáneas de la verdad, Madrid: Tecnos, 2012.
• Ransom, T. G. & Gallagher, S. «Institutions and other things: critical hermeneutics, postphenomenology and material engagement theory», AI & Society, 2020, doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-020-00987-z
• Romero, J. & Mejía Fernández, R. «La teoría antropológica de Jürgen Habermas. Un naturalismo débil entre Kant y Darwin», Cuadernos Salmantinos de Filosofía, 46, 2019, pp. 113-140.
• Rorty, R. & Habermas, J. Sobre la verdad ¿validez universal o justificación?, Buenos Aires: Amorrortu, 2013.
• Rubén Blanco, J. «Las relaciones entre ciencia y sociedad: hacia una sociologia histórica del conocimiento científico», Política y Social, 14, 15, 1993-1994, pp. 35-45.
• Sousa Santos, B. Justicia entre saberes. Epistemologías del Sur contra el epistemicidio, Madrid: Morata, 2017.

Additional Material

-To be presented at the beginning of each topic.

• Ferraris, M. Postverità e altri enigmi, Bolònia: Il Mulino, 2017.
• Gadamer, H.-G. Verdad y método, (I-II), Salamanca: Sígueme.
• Heidegger, M. La pregunta por la técnica (1954). Edicions diverses.
• Heidegger, M. De la esencia de la verdad (1943). Edicions diverses.
• Henry, M. Yo soy la verdad, Salamanca: Sígueme, 2005.
• López-González, H., Guerrero-Solé, F. & García-Jiménez, L. «La representación de la tecnología: tecnocultura, empoderamiento y transformación social», Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 16, 2, 2015, pp. 1-16.
• Mejía Fernández, R. «Foucault y el concepto biológico de raza: entre el poder y la ciencia», Relectiones, 2, 2015, pp. 77-94.
• Morin, E. Introducción al pensamiento complejo, Barcelona: Gedisa, 1994,
• Quintanilla, M.A., Parselis, M., Lawler, D. & Sandrone, D. (2017). Tecnologías entrañables: ¿es posible un modelo alternativo de desarrollo tecnológico?, Catarata, 2017.
• Quintanilla, M. A. Tecnología: un enfoque filosófico, Madrid: Fundesco D. L., 1989.
• Tomàs d’Aquino, Quaestiones disputatae: De veritate. Edicions diverses.
• VV.AA. Sopa de Wuhan. Pensamiento contemporáneo en tiempos de pandemias, Buenos Aires: ISPO, 2020.
• Vattimo, G. Adiós a la verdad, Barcelona: Gedisa, 2010.
• Žižek, S. ¡Pandemia! La covid-19 estremece al mundo, Barcelona: Anagrama, 2020.
• Zubiri, X. El hombre y la verdad, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1999.