Universitat Internacional de Catalunya
Fundamentals of Human Communication I
Other languages of instruction: Catalan
Teaching staff
Personalized attention in the classroom and by email: jpuigdomenech@uic.es
Introduction
The subject Fundamentals of Human Communication I is an introduction to the different communicative manifestations –oral language, written language, body expression, pictograms, etc.– that civilisation has developed in different stages over the centuries. The foundations of communication will be set out throughout the programme in an interdisciplinary relationship with anthropology, psychology and sociology, based on texts, artistic forms and audiovisual material related to the topics covered; all with the aim of encouraging the students’ creativity and personal thought.
Objectives
The aim of the subject is to provide students theoretical-practical and values-based instruction that helps further their knowledge of history’s most significant forms of communication, and help them better understand and critically judge the movements of ideas in today’s communication society.
Competences/Learning outcomes of the degree programme
- 04 - The ability of self assessment and professional self management
- 06 - The ability to act autonomously and responsibly
- 11 - The ability to make judgments and well-argued critical assessments
- 19 - The ability to memorise
- 21 - The ability of abstraction
- 79 - The ability and capacity for independent practice of the profession
- 94 - The ability to act freely and responsibly
Learning outcomes of the subject
- Ability to apply the knowledge acquired in the subjects Image Philosophy, Anthropology and Communication Content Analysis.
- Ability to design and implement models for interpretation and criticism and to analyse and interpret data.
- Ability to design content for an advertising campaign and meet the needs with real economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, promotion and sustainability limitations.
- Ability to interact as part of a multidisciplinary team.
- Ability to identify, formulate and solve problems concerning the interpretation of advertising products.
- Understanding of ethical and professional responsibility.
- Ability to communicate effectively.
- The general knowledge required to understand the impact of advertising content in a global, economic, human and social context.
- Recognition of the need and ability to engage in lifelong learning.
- Knowledge of contemporary problems.
- Ability to use modern techniques, skills and tools for creating and analysing advertising content.
Syllabus
- Unit 1- Dialogue and dialectics in Socrates and Plato.
- Unit 2- Aristotle: Esoteric and exoteric communication.
- Unit 3- Mediaeval logic and syllogisms.
- Unit 4- Renaissance and post-Renaissance expressiveness.
- Unit 5- Descartes, the subjectivity and origin of the Modern Era.
- Unit 6- Universal languages: Leibniz’s proposal.
- Unit 7- Communication and critique of knowledge in Kant.
- Unit 8- Hegelian dialectics and the idea of progress.
- Unit 9- Arthur Schopenhauer and the world as will and representation.
- Unit 10- Journalism as a means of disseminating ideas: The challenge of Marx.
- Unit 11- Sören Kierkegaard: Indirect narrative and the stages of the human being.
- Unit 12- Friedrich Nietzsche and the expressiveness of the aphorism.
- Unit 13- Ortega y Gasset and the Revista de Occidente.
- Unit 14- Sigmund Freud and C. G. Jung: Unconscious communicative mechanisms.
Teaching and learning activities
In person
| TRAINING ACTIVITY | ECTS CREDITS |
| Lectures. In lectures, lecturers/professors not only transmit content or knowledge, but also, and above all else, attitudes, motivation, skills and values, etc. They also ensure that participants can express their opinions and arguments to the other students. | 0,7 |
| Coaching. Monitoring how students learn the content of the subject, either individually or in groups. In the coaching sessions, mistakes will be corrected, queries answered, and exercises and activities to achieve the established objectives will be suggested. | 0,6 |
| Meeting Point. Meetings will be organised with notable people from the professional and scientific fields or the international field, and students. These sessions will take the form of conferences, work sessions, discussions, or interviews, etc. | 0,2 |
| Seminar. This activity will consist of taking an in-depth look at specific up-to-date topics in a monographic manner-in some cases these topics will have been debated socially-, via active work in small groups. | 0,3 |
| Lab. Working groups that combine theory and practice. The aim of these is not to undertake already known techniques, but instead to make progress that is both theoretical and technical. These Lab sessions will culminate in the creation of a professional or semi-professional product. | 0,6 |
| Practical workshop. A highly practical working activity, where students can acquire skills that are practical or also theoretical (intellectual skills, logical skills, critical skills, intellectual learning skills, study skills, quoting skills, etc). | 0,6 |
Evaluation systems and criteria
In person
In accordance with the ongoing assessment model, students will answer a weekly questionnaire about certain topics (20%).
During the course there will be a written test on one of the topics proposed in the programme (20%).
Finally, the students will submit a paper in which they are required to investigate a topic or aspect from the syllabus from a creative and personal perspective (60%).
In the second sitting, students who fail the paper will be required to expand on or modify it in accordance with the lecturer’s guidelines.
Bibliography and resources
HESSEN, Johannes: Teoría del conocimiento. Madrid: Espasa, 1981.
McLUHAN, Marshall: Comprender los medios de comunicación. Las extensiones del ser humano. Barcelona: Paidós, 1996
MARÍAS, Julián: Historia de la Filosofía. Madrid: Alianza, 2006.
PEIRCE, Charles Sanders: La ciencia de la semiótica. Buenos Aires: Nueva Visión, 1986.