1000

The course is an introduction of elemental symbolic logic study. It is targeted at students from all careers and does not require any prior particular knowledge. The starting point is the study of the logic structure of propositions and arguments in Spanish. Once appropriate understanding of basic concepts is achieved, formal elements are introduced. Propositional logic is presented in an accessible, but also strict manner. The most important notions are given a formal definition and an informal explanation, and are illustrated with multiple examples and various exercises. At the end of the course, predicate logic is introduced, which is the basis for the Logics 2 course.

The course is aimed at students with no formal education in philosophy. The objective is to introduce them to the main philosophical problems by reading fundamental texts.

The course will be focused on one of the most important results or hypotheses of Plato´s philosophy: the theory of ideas. First, a dialog will be studied "temprano" Menón, where such theory is not yet exposed, but which offers a series of elements that allow justifying its formulation and a theoretical device (the doctrine of reminiscence) which will later be integrated therein. Then, it will continue with one of the most read and commented texts of the philosopher: the Fedon. In this dialog, the theory of the ideas is actually exposed, in its most general and problematic version. The course will be concluded with a dialog where these problematic aspects precisely constitute the driving thread: the Parmenides.

The course is a general introduction to some of the problems raised by Aristhoteles with regards to the relation between ethics and politics. To this end, students will analyze, discuss, and read, alternatively and selectively, two aristotelic readings: Nichomachean Politics and Ethics.

The course intends to introduce students to Descartes´ Doctrine, as it represents the philosophical birth certificate of Modernity. This Doctrine provides for almost all the greatest philosophical problems, in germinal stage, that were object of discussion ever since. Descartes´ Doctrine is one of the most remarkable efforts to protect the fundamental theses from the medieval outlook: God´s existence and immortality of the soul. Descartes thus became the last medieval thinker and the first modern philosopher.

The course is based on some sections of the third and fourth books of the Vasishta Yoga, one of the classic texts of the advait tradition, which is impossible to access through the text exegesis philosophical manner. The text itself suggests means of access that are not merely rational, but which are supported on intuition and on experience itself. Its peculiar style filled with metaphors, resemblances, narratives and the constant revisiting of the same issues from different perspectives will undoubtedly provide us with a new way of seeing and conceiving the world. Likewise, the course seeks to clarify notions such as Brahman, Maya, Ahamkara, Moksha, Atman, Jiva, karma, samsara, vasanas, atmavidya, prana, chakras.

Both secularization and pluralism in modern day society have led to death being an ever less discussed phenomenon. In past times, the discourse about death was an almost exclusive domain of religion, but with the loss of value in society of what was once traditionally religious, and the paramount status of other discourses (medical discourse, scientific approach, Esotericism, and the pseudo-scientific discourse of Self-improvement) death has come to be one of the great taboos of our time. This course pretends to retake the subject from an interdisciplinary perspective. Although the more prominent approaches will be those of philosophy and psychology (this course is offered by both departments), historical, anthropological and sociological approaches will also be discussed. Some of the general problems the course tries to address are: the historically recognized attitudes towards death in the West, the philosophical debate regarding the relationship between death, morality and happiness, actual individual attitudes, as well as beliefs and social prejudices towards death (subject of Social psychology), and the suffering which necessarily implies one’s own death or that of loved ones (Clinical psychology).