Universität Wien

180109 SE Radical French Philospohy: La Mettrie (2013W)

Affective Modulation, Psychotechnology, Philosophy

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Prüfungsimmanente Lehrveranstaltung

An/Abmeldung

Hinweis: Ihr Anmeldezeitpunkt innerhalb der Frist hat keine Auswirkungen auf die Platzvergabe (kein "first come, first served").

Details

max. 25 Teilnehmer*innen
Sprache: Deutsch

Lehrende

Termine (iCal) - nächster Termin ist mit N markiert

  • Freitag 11.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 18.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 25.10. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 08.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 15.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 22.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 29.11. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 06.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 13.12. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 10.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 17.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 24.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock
  • Freitag 31.01. 12:00 - 14:00 Hörsaal 3E NIG 3.Stock

Information

Ziele, Inhalte und Methode der Lehrveranstaltung

Following my seminar on De Sade, this course will explore of some of the most salient aspects of the thought of Julien Offroy de la Mettrie (1709-51), a French Physician, materialist and atheist. The seminar seeks to relate La Mettrie's ideas about medicine, science, politics and religion to the historical, socio-political, and intellectual context of the radical enlightenment. To that aim, the seminar comprises a concise introduction to the literary and philosophical oeuvre of La Mettrie, with special reference to his more famous texts. During the seminar these early modern conceptualisations of new epistemiologies will be examined in grater detail and by means of close readings of selected passages from La Mettrie's works. The medical contexts out of which La Mettrie developed his ideas is certainly of crucial importance. Therefore, a special focus will lie on that author's radical conceptual reassessment of contemporary political and religious discourses on the human body and the soul, with their drastic consequences in philosophical anthropology.

Art der Leistungskontrolle und erlaubte Hilfsmittel

Apart from participating in the discussions of selected primary texts, all students will be required to give a short talk during the study day, and to write a ten page essay in English. For their research, students will refer to the primary and secondary literature provided for the seminar as well as to other relevant literature; in their essay, they will demonstrate their capacity handle the usual methods of scholarly documentation (footnotes and bibliography).
Please note: in order to obtain a certificate for this seminar it is necessary to give a talk AND to write a paper, which should be related to the content of the talk but which will not merely be a summary of the verbal presentation. The deadline to hand in papers is March 30, 2014.

Mindestanforderungen und Beurteilungsmaßstab

The main aims of are seminar are: reading and analysis of primary texts, philologically and historically sound reconstruction of philosophical traditions, practice of advanced methods in research and philosophical writing.

Prüfungsstoff

The seminar will be held in English, accompanied by reading material from selected relevant primary sources and secondary literature at the student’s disposal in the library. General introductions to the historical and intellectual backgrounds of the texts under consideration will go along with close readings of selected passages from La Mettrie's works.

Literatur

Minimal reading:

Primary texts

La Mettrie, J.O. de (1747) L’Homme machine, trans. and ed. A. Thomson, Man Machine and other writings, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
Vartainian, A. (1960) La Mettrie’s L’Homme Machine: A Study in the Origins of an Idea, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Wellman, K. (1992) La Mettrie: Medicine, Philosophy, and Enlightenment, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Zuordnung im Vorlesungsverzeichnis

BA M 7.2

Letzte Änderung: Mo 07.09.2020 15:36