Graduate school -course

Although a philosophy of action has been central to numerous philosophical systems from Plato to Kant, it is only in recent years that it has come to be seen as a subject in its own right. Topics in the philosophy of action range from questions about ontology and individuation to issues of agency and responsibility. Are actions events or processes? Are they caused by our reasons for performing them and if so where is agency to be located? If we always do what we think is best in what sense can we be held responsible for our mistakes? The course will consist of lectures and seminars (12 hours in total) addressing some of the central contemporary debates in the field via close readings of certain texts. The first day is dedicated to the nature of action and its relation to agents. The second day explores questions about motivation and explanation. The third day focuses on the age-old assumption that we always act in the light of some perceived good.

The participants are encouraged to read the following six papers in advance, the course will partly be in seminar format. There’s a separate list of background & further readings.

Graduate school - course 21.-22.10. 2013

(open for advanced students).

Groups, organizations, conventions, social roles, conflicts and cooperation are no less real than physical particles and mental attitudes. Social ontology examines what kind of objects, relations, properties and events they are, and how they relate to mind and matter. It also covers issues of collective action, intentionality, emotions, and reasoning, as well as the fundamental nature of sociality. Social ontology is a relatively new, but rapidly evolving field of research devoted to the analysis of the basic structures of the social world. The phenomena it covers range from small-scale everyday interactions to encompassing societal institutions, from unintended consequences to institutional design. The unifying element is its focus on the basic constitution of these phenomena. The field of social ontology blends a well-defined approach to social phenomena with a wide scope that extends well beyond the boundaries of philosophy into the other humanities and the various social sciences.

The course will consist of lectures (12 hours in total) addressing the central contemporary debates in the field.

DAY ONE 21.10.2013 10 - 18 PINNI A LS A3111

1. Introduction: social ontology as a subfield of philosophy

2. Collective intentionality - approach Incl. John Searle's approach to social ontology - critical assessments

3. Game theory: institutions as equilibria

DAY TWO 22.10.2013 10 - 18 PÄÄTALO LS A2A

4. Phenomenological approach to social ontology

5. The approach from contemporary metaphysics: the notion of 'constitution'

6. Issues in practical philosophy: e.g. social freedom, political obligation, collective evil, terrorism

[Preceding the conference European Network for Social Ontology, ENSO III, Helsinki 23.-25.10.2013]

further info: arto.laitinen@uta.fi

 New venue: Päätalo A34, behind/above the dining hall.

This seminar is open for interested PhD students in any discipline, as well as master’s students. (and will be ok for the social philosophy FILA9 as well). The seminar will meet weekly, and read Axel Honneth’s articles, e.g. from the collection The I in We. (Articles by the classics that he comments on, and by his critics, will form the background and further reading.) The first meeting will be on 22nd January, when we will discuss the practicalities.

Axel Honneth is the director of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research and a professor at Columbia University. His work focuses on social-political and moral philosophy, especially relations of power, recognition, and respect. One of his core arguments is for the priority of intersubjective relationships of recognition in understanding social relations. This includes non- and mis-recognition as a basis of social and interpersonal conflict. For instance, grievances regarding the
distribution of goods in society are ultimately struggles for recognition.

Axel Honneth will visit Finland (Helsinki) at 23rd May 2014.
For more info, contact arto.laitinen@uta.fi

 New venue: Päätalo A34, behind/above the dining hall.

This seminar is open for interested PhD students in any discipline, as well as master’s students. (and will be ok for the social philosophy FILA9 as well). The seminar will meet weekly, and read Axel Honneth’s articles, e.g. from the collection The I in We. (Articles by the classics that he comments on, and by his critics, will form the background and further reading.) The first meeting will be on 22nd January, when we will discuss the practicalities.

Axel Honneth is the director of Frankfurt Institute for Social Research and a professor at Columbia University. His work focuses on social-political and moral philosophy, especially relations of power, recognition, and respect. One of his core arguments is for the priority of intersubjective relationships of recognition in understanding social relations. This includes non- and mis-recognition as a basis of social and interpersonal conflict. For instance, grievances regarding the
distribution of goods in society are ultimately struggles for recognition.

Axel Honneth will visit Finland (Helsinki) at 23rd May 2014.
For more info, contact arto.laitinen@uta.fi

Epistemology seeks to describe the structure of true propositions and arguments and to define criteria that allow us to distinguish knowledge from what is not knowledge. While epistemological categorization thus provides a useful tool for scientific, philosophical and political discourse and seems to be indispensible for rational thinking, it always at the same time threatens to limit and restrict the creative advance of our philosophical
understanding. Following and building upon Cornel West’s reading of classical American philosophy, the series of lectures offers a perspective on representative authors of Transcendentalism, Pragmatism and Neopragmatism
as ways of ‘doing philosophy’ that challenge the idea of the need for an epistemological foundation of rational thought. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, William James, Alfred North Whitehead and Richard Rorty offer attempts at structuring experiential reality without settling or fixing it, thereby opening up the path for the modern tradition of process philosophy. The course consists of five successive lectures, each comprising 60 minutes of presentation and 30 minutes of discussion.