Universität Wien

180113 SE Hume’s Enquiries (2019S)

5.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 18 - Philosophie
Continuous assessment of course work
Moodle

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 30 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes (iCal) - next class is marked with N

  • Wednesday 13.03. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 20.03. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 27.03. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 03.04. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 10.04. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 08.05. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 15.05. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 22.05. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 29.05. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 05.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 12.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 19.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien
  • Wednesday 26.06. 16:45 - 18:15 Hörsaal 3C, NIG Universitätsstraße 7/Stg. II/3. Stock, 1010 Wien

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

The main aim of this seminar is to familiarize students with one of David Hume’s most important and influential work, “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”. We will read the material and discuss it in detail, with the purpose of understanding Hume’s main ideas and arguments. At the end of the course, the students should be able to express ideas and arguments in a clear manner (both orally and in writing) and sustain a debate over the main issues focused on.
The seminar spreads over 13 meetings: 11 in which we discuss the material, one reserved to introductory remarks and one in which details of/questions about the final essay will be discussed.

Syllabus
Week 1 (13.03., 16:45-18:15): Introduction (no reading)
Week 2 (20.03., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section I, "Of the Different Species of Philosophy")
Week 3 (27.03., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section II ("Of the Origins of Ideas" and section III ("Of the Association of Ideas")
Week 4 (3.04., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section IV ("Sceptical Doubts Concerning the Operations of Understanding")
Week 5 (10.04., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section V ("Sceptical Solution of these Doubts")
Week 6 (8.05., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section VI ("On Probability") and section VII ("Of the Idea of Necessary Connection")
Week 7 (15.05., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section VII ("Of the Idea of Necessary Connection"), continued
Week 8 (22.05., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section VIII (""Of Liberty and Necessity")
Week 9 (29.05., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section VIII (""Of Liberty and Necessity") and section IX ("Of the Reason of Animals")
Week 10 (5.06., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section X ("Of Miracles")
Week 11 (12.06., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section X ("Of Miracles") and section XI ("Of a Particular Providence and of a Future State")
Week 12 (19.06., 16:45-18:15): Hume, Enquiry section XII ("Of the Academical and Scpetical Philosophy")
Week 13 (26.06., 16:45-18:15): Essay guidelines and discussion (no reading)

Assessment and permitted materials

Assessment:
The students will be assessed according to the following:
- Participation in discussion (25%).
- Short answers to questions from the material to be submitted before each meeting (25%).
- Final essay (50%).
Each of these will be graded as follows:
- Participation: 5 to 1;
- Short answers: 5 to 1;
- Essay: Insufficient (5), Sufficient (4), Satisfactory (3), Good (2), Very Good (1).
To complete the seminar, students need to get Satisfactory (4) at each of the assignments.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Minimum requirements for this course comprise the following:
- Presence in class (no more than 2 unjustified absences are tolerated);
- Submission of short answers (maximum 150 words each) to 2 questions from the material to be read in each of the 10 sessions, to be uploaded on moodle before class.
- A final essay (of 2500 words) on topics covered in the seminar, selected from those to which the mandatory short answers were submitted. The essay is due at the end of the seminar.

Examination topics

Students will be examined on the relevant issues from the work studied.

Reading list

David Hume, “An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding”, in David Hume, Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals”, third edition, Open University Set Book, pp. 5-165.
Morris, William Edward and Brown, Charlotte R., "David Hume", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2017 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2017/entries/hume/.
Paul Russell (editor), The Oxford Handbook to Hume, OUP, 2016 [optional]
David Fate Norton and Jacqueline Taylor, The Cambridge Companion to Hume, second edition, CUP, 2009 [optional]

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Mo 07.09.2020 15:36