- Freedom in Kant’s Revolution
- Outline of lectures and set reading
- Open seminar Individualism and Holism in the Theory of Value
John Skorupski
Professor Emeritus of Moral Philosophy
University of St Andrews
The Tradition of Critical Philosophy
30 hour-course
1 hour credit, 2 ECTS points
April 11-29, 2016
Room GG-212
11-15 April from 9:30 to 12:00
and
26-29 April from 9:30 to 12:00
Summary
These lectures will explain and examine the tradition of "Critical" philosophy. The use of the word ‘Critical’ follows Kant, and the central question in this tradition is his question, how is knowledge possible? The lectures will discuss:
- Kant and his idealist critics;
- The Vienna Circle and the early Wittgenstein;
- Late Wittgenstein;
- Recent discussion of reasons and rationality.
Discussion of Kant will focus on his ‘transcendental idealism’ in its application to knowledge, freedom and religion. Discussion of the Vienna Circle will focus on its accounts of meaning, analyticity and convention. Discussion of late Wittgenstein will seek to interpret the ‘rule-following considerations.’ The final section (4) will explain how recent discussions of meta-normativity can be seen as a revival of the Critical tradition, and discuss whether it can succeed.
A recurrent question will be whether this Critical tradition can escape from Kant’s transcendental idealism, that is, whether it can ‘vindicate’ knowledge and freedom without it.
Readings
- Ameriks, Karl, Kant and the Fate of Autonomy
- Carnap, Rudolf, ‘Empiricism, Semantics and Ontology’, e.g. in Carnap, Meaning and Necessity.
- Friedman, Michael, ‘The Re-evaluation of Logical Positivism’, in Journal of Philosophy, 10, 1991.
- Kant, Immanuel, The Critique of Pure Reason
- Kripke, Saul, Wittgenstein on Rules and Private Language
- Scanlon, T. M. Being Realistic about Reasons
- Skorupski, J. The Domain of Reasons (Introduction, Part IV)
- Wittgenstein, L. Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle, Conversations recorded by Friedrich Waismann.
- Wittgenstein, L. Philosophical Investigations
Questions should be directed to
mgr Tomasz Łach (tmlach@gmail.com) or mgr Łukasz Sarowski (sarowski.l@o2.pl)
Ostatnia aktualizacja: 16.08.2016, godz. 23:15 - Andrzej Zykubek