Subject

Human Thought 1

  • code 07793
  • course 1
  • term Semester 1
  • type FB
  • credits 6

Module: Economic Framework

Matter: The individual, Business and Society

Main language of instruction: Spanish

Other languages of instruction: Catalan, English

If the student is enrolled for the English track then classes for that subject will be taught in the same language.

Teaching staff

Head instructor

Dr. Pablo ROMERO - promero@uic.es
Dr. Joan Vianney DOMINGO - vdomingo@uic.es

Office hours

On Monday from 12.00 to 13.00. Please ask for an appointment by e-mail.

Introduction

This module is based on a premise that is very relevant to university education: the main challenges and problems that university students will face during their degree programme and in the future will not be solved using techniques that can be taught but rather through an in-depth understanding of the human condition. Therefore, the objective of this course is to think what it means to be human within oneself and in society.

The current crisis of the social and economic capitalist system and the welfare state makes this kind of training increasingly relevant and necessary for those who will be making decisions concerning other people in the future. Only a calm and honest reflection about the person and society can provide the guidance that is necessary in an increasingly complex world. In today’s world, stopping to think and taking a humanistic approach to the world has become an urgent humanitarian task.

Pre-course requirements

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Objectives

To reflect on the personal, family, professional and social dimensions of the human being.

Competences / Learning outcomes of the degree programme

  • 52 - To develop interpersonal skills and the ability to work as part of a team.
  • 53 - To acquire the skills necessary to learn autonomously.
  • 54 - To be able to express one’s ideas and formulate arguments in a logical and coherent way, both verbally and in writing.
  • 56 - To be able to create arguments which are conducive to critical and self-critical thinking.
  • 60 - To acquire knowledge that promotes respect for other cultures and habits.
  • 62 - To acquire mechanisms that facilitate the adoption of ethical commitments.
  • 64 - To be able to plan and organise one's work.
  • 68 - To develop mechanisms that encourage sensitivity towards social welfare issues.
  • 33 - To be able to search for, interpret and convey information.
  • 50 - To acquire the ability to relate concepts, analyse and synthesise.
  • 57 - To acquire skills which favour reading comprehension.
  • 61 - To develop skills for adapting to new situations.
  • 65 - To acquire the ability to put knowledge into practice.

Learning outcomes of the subject

 

  • Reflecting on the change in epistemological focus, typical of modernity.
  • Determining the connection between “thinking” and “doing”, from both a historical and practical perspective.
  • Analysing the evolution of “thought” from a philosophical perspective as a means of connection between man and contemporary reality.
  • Establishing the correct historical distinctions within the definition of “rationality”.
  • Describing postmodernity from the perspective of narcissism and the deconstruction of the subject.
  • Defining the connection between the advertising world and the media.

Syllabus

 

 

Part I. Man and the World. Analysis of Consumerism and the Origin of Advertising.


I. Phenomenology of Advertising and Consumption in the Contemporary World. Advertising and Mass Media.
- 1.1. Media as epistemology and man as product. The emergence of advertising language in E. Bernay’s: The Century of the Self.
- 1.2. Fetishism of the subjectivity and fetishism of the commodity (K. Marx and Z. Bauman, Consumer Life).
- 1.3. The consumer production industry (Ferlosio, Non Olet, J. Rifkin, The End of Work).
- 1.4. The possibility of communication in postmodern society. The mass media as a showcase of the world (N. Postman).
- 1.5. Advertising syntax and fragmentation of language in the mass media (Postman, chapter 6, Sartori).

II. Man and Time: History, Linearity and Progress.

- 2.1. Full time and empty time in contemporary man (H. Gadamer).
- 2.2. Alienation of time in the present culture (Mongardini). The perception of one's own time as an identity (Black Mirror, Modern Times and Lifeline, short by V. Erice).
- 2.3. Pointillist Time, Obsolescence and Hanging Culture in Z. Bauman (pp. 51-57).
- 2.4. Leisure and business: the party. Time as a commodity (Z. Bauman, Consumer Life, chapter I.2, pp. 83-89).
o From the medieval otium to the neg-otium of the consumer society (J. Pieper, Leisure and Intellectual Life).
- 2.5. The obsolescence of the human in a technified world (G. Anders, R. Sennett, Hegel).
- 2.6. Freedom and perfection in contemporary man (Alvira, What is Freedom?, Ayllón texts, M. Sandel, Against Perfection) (Bauman, Life of Consumption, Freedom pp. 83-89).

III. Man and Morals: the Ethical Limits of the Market.

- 3.1. From vacuum to postmodernity. Collective narcissism and personalisation process: characteristics, causes and consequences (Sartori, chaps 3, 5, 6 and Prologue, Lipovetsky). Liquid love in Bauman.
- 3.2. Narcissism and perfection. The technique as a horizon of success: Against perfection (M. Sandel).
- 3.3. First and second individualist revolution (Lipovetsky).
- 3.7. Practical case studies. What money cannot buy.

 

Teaching and learning activities

In person

The classes will contain a mix of theoretical explanations and practical activities.

 La primera es la buena:

TRAINING ACTIVITY

COMPETENCES

REPORT PRESENTATIONS
SMALL GROUP SEMINARS
TUTORIALS
INDIVIDUAL STUDY
LECTURE
IN-CLASS PRACTICAL WORK (SOLVING PROBLEMS/VIDEOS/TEXT COMMENTS/ESSAYS)

11 68 53 56 57 60 38 45 46 62 65 33 50 54


TRAINING ACTIVITYCOMPETENCES
REPORT PRESENTATIONS
SMALL GROUP SEMINARS
TUTORIALS
INDIVIDUAL STUDY
MAGISTER CLASS
CLASSROOM PRACTICE (SOLVING PROBLEMS/VIDEOS/TEXT COMMENTS/ESSAYS)
11 68 53 56 57 60 38 45 46 62 65 33 50 54

Evaluation systems and criteria

In person

The module is assessed as follows:

Attendance and participation: 2 points

Mid-course examinations (including mid-course): 2 points (at the time, an explanation of the specific form and scoring for each activity will be given). This test is not matter-free. The whole syllabus is covered in the final examination.

Essays, presentations and comments on texts: 2 points.

Examination on comprehension and presentation of concepts: 4 points.

No essay may be submitted after the stated deadline. Exercises and comments not submitted will be failed, to be repeated by the deadline specified by the lecturer. The mark from practical work contributes towards the final mark. There are no exceptions to this rule unless previously announced, or subsequently justified by relevant documentation.

Students who have several unsubmitted exercises will not be allowed to sit the final examination. Likewise, those who have failed the practical section must repeat it, bearing in mind the corrections made.

Finally, any in-class exercise or written essay that mid-coursely or totally plagiarises any other text, be it a citation or an anonymous source, website or a published text in any possible format (books, magazines, etc.) will lead to immediate failure of the module and the loss of the right to sit the final examination. There are also no exceptions to this rule. 

 

 

 

Bibliography and resources

REFERENCE BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Sellés, J. F., Anthropology for Rebels: A Different Way of Doing Philosophical Anthropology, Strathmore University, 2010
- Yepes Stork, R., Notes on Philosophical Anthropology. Human Excellence,
- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
- Aristotle, De Anima
- Plato, The Republic
- Polo, L., Ethics: A Modern Version of Its Classic Themes, Sinag-Tala, 2008
- Llano, C. y Polo, L., The Anthropology of Directive Action (Activity), 1997
- Pérez López, J. A., Foundations of Management, Rialp, 2014
- Malo, A., Il senso antropologico dell'azione: paradigmi e prospettive, Armando, 2004
- Malo, A., Antropologia dell'affettività, Armando, 1999 (trad. española: Antropología de la afectividad, EUNSA, 2004)
- Anscombe, G. E. M., Human Life, Action and Ethics, St. Andrews studies in philosophy and public affairs, 2004
- Lyons, W., Emotion, Cambridge University Press, 1980
- Solomon, R. C., The Passions, Anchor Press-Doubleday, Garden City, 1976
- Bauman, Z., Liquid Love, Polity Press, 2003
- Bauman, Z., Consuming Life, Polity Press, 2007
- Sandel, M., What Money Can’t Buy, FSG, 2012


TEXTS and other material

- Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, selected brands
- Aristotle, De Anima, selected brands
- Plato, The Republic, book 4
- Anscombe, G. E. M., “The Dignity of the Human Being”, in Human Life, Action and Ethics, St. Andrews studies in philosophy and public affairs, 2006
- George, R.P. “Gnostic liberalism”, First Things, December 2016
- Shepherd, J., “A Broken Body isn’t a Broken Person”, TED Talk
- Brooks, David, Our elites still don’t get it, New York Times, 16th November 2017
- Schwartz, P., “The Paradox of Choice”, TEDtalk
- Lynch, P., “How to see past our own perspective and find truth”, TED Talk
- Sandel, M., Contra la libertad,
- Bernays, E, Century of the Self (youtube)
- Bauman, Z., Liquid Love
- Bauman, Z., Consuming Life
- Sandel, M., What Money Can't Buy

 

Evaluation period

E: exam date | R: revision date | 1: first session | 2: second session:

  • E2 19/06/2019 12:00h b501

Teaching and learning material

      Material
            A. de Benoist, El burgués y el hombre moderno el_burgues,paradigmadelhombremodernoalaindebenoist.pdf 
            Gadamer, Los dos tiempos pensamentigadamer,losdostiempos.doc 
            G. Anders, Die Prägung der Bedürfnisse guntheranders-laformaciondelas_necesidades.pdf 
            G. Sartori, Homo videns homovidens[1].pdf 
            J. Hearth, A Potter, Rebelarse vende (cap. IV) rebelarsevendecap.iv.pdf 
            J. Rifkin, El fin del trabajo; cap.I j.rifkin,elfindeltrabajo,capituloi.pdf 
            J. Rifkin, La sociedad de producción rifkin,lasociedaddeproduccionlaproducciondelconsumidorsegunferlosio.doc 
            Lipovetsky, El lujo eterno lipovetsky-gilles-lujo-eterno-lujo-emocional-fragmento.pdf 
            Lipovetsky, L'Empire de l'éphémère : la mode et son destin dans les sociétés modernes lipovetsky-la-era-del-vacio-prefacio-cap-1-y-2.pdf 
            Lipovetsky, Le Crépuscule du devoir lipovetsky,elcrepusculodeldeber.pdf 
            Mongardini, Time and alienation pensamentimongardini,tiempoyenajenacion.doc 
            M. Sandel, Contra la perfección contralaperfeccion-michaelj.sandel.pdf 
            M. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets (p.48-57) loqueeldineronopuedecomprarpag48-57-michaelj.sandel.pdf 
            N. Postman, Amusing ourselves to death (english edition) postman-neil-amusing-ourselves-to-death-public-discourse-in-the-age-of-show-business.pdf 
            N. Postman, Amusing ourselves to death divertirsehastamorir[1].pdf 
            N. Postman, Las cinco advertencias del cambio tecnológico n.postman,lascincoadvertenciasdelcambiotecnologicocorregida.doc 
            P. Romero, Knowledge as merchandise (La Vanguardia, 1/03/2014) 140301lavsnguardia_cast.pdf 
            P. Romero, Philosophy and its creditors (La Vanguardia, 18/01/2015) lavanguardia18:1:2016foysusacreedores.pdf 
            Sennett, The culture of the new capitalism latecnificacio?ndelhombresennettyeltiempo.doc 
            Toutain, Imitació de l'home toutain,autenticidadyatributosdelhombremoderno.doc 
            Z. Bauman, Liquid love (chap. I) amorliquido-capituloi.pdf 
            Z. Bauman, Liquid love (chap. III) amorliquido-capituloiii.pdf 
            Z. Bauman, Liquid love (chap. IV) amorliquido-capituloiv.pdf 
            Z. Bauman, Liquid love (preface) baumanamorli?quidopro?logo,fce.pdf 
            Z. Bauman, time and obsolescence (Consuming life) z.bauman,tiempopuntillistavidadeconsumo.pdf 
            Z. Bauman, Consuming life bauman-vida-de-consumo.pdf 
            Z. Bauman, Consuming life (English version) zygmunt-bauman-consuming-life.pdf 
            Z. Bauman, Vida de consumo (infraclase) z.bauman,infraclasevidadeconsumo,fce.pdf 
            Z. Bauman, Wasted lives (chapters 1, 2) bauman_vidasdesperdiciades_cap_1_y_2%5bsmallpdf.com%5d.pdf 
      Websites
            1929, The Big Crash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFvS9HhJ7Bo 
            Against happiness: Why we need a philosophy of failure http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/philosophy/against-happiness-why-we-need-a-philosophy-of-failure 
            BBC (E. Bernays) The century of the self https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DotBVZ26asI 
            Culto a estar ocupado (Tiempo en Gadamer) https://hipertextual.com/2014/11/culto-a-estar-ocupado 
            David Boaz, Libertarianism http://catarina.udlap.mx/u_dl_a/tales/documentos/lri/hernandez_d_m/capitulo1.pdf 
            E. Bernays, Engineering of consent http://www.revistagq.com/la-buena-vida/sexo/articulos/si-es-mujer-y-fuma-eduard-es-el-culpable/16822 
            El País, La tiranía de la imagen (artículo J. Sampedro) http://tecnologia.elpais.com/tecnologia/2015/10/16/actualidad/1445008139_272065.html 
            González Férriz. Mito de la autenticidad y la publicidad https://blogs.elconfidencial.com/cultura/el-erizo-y-el-zorro/2017-09-26/autenticidad-sed-autenticos-identidad-rousseau_1448967/ 
            Lipovetsky, Le Crépuscule du devoir http://mic.com/articles/103788/one-hilarious-video-perfectly-sums-up-a-big-problem-with-western-humanitarianism 
            M. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets http://tannerlectures.utah.edu/_documents/a-to-z/s/sandel00.pdf 
            N. Carr (El País, Homo Technologicus) http://sociedad.elpais.com/sociedad/2014/09/19/actualidad/1411146383_037635.html 
            N. Carr (El País, I) http://blogs.elpais.com/papeles-perdidos/2011/02/carr-y-la-superficialidad-en-internet.html 
            N. Carr (El País, II) http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/Internet/cambia/forma/leer/pensar/elpepusoc/20081010elpepisoc_1/Tes 
            N. Carr (El País, III) http://www.elpais.com/articulo/sociedad/Atentos/todo/nada/elpepusoc/20110512elpepusoc_3/Tes 
            N. Carr (El País, IV) http://www.elpais.com/articulo/portada/mundo/distraido/elpepuculbab/20110129elpbabpor_3/Tes 
            N. Carr, Revolution of technology http://tecnologia.elpais.com/tecnologia/2015/10/23/actualidad/1445612531_992107.html 
            Neil Postman’s “Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change" http://tuckerteacher.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/neil-postmans-five-things-we-need-to-know-about-technological-change/ 
            This space available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxQFeeNZG3Y 
            Tiempo libre y hombre moderno (el tiempo libre ha muerto) https://elpais.com/elpais/2014/04/09/icon/1397055895_587211.html 
            Tiempo lleno y tiempo vacío http://elpais.com/elpais/2017/05/05/ciencia/1493985563_657372.html 
            V. Erice, Lifeline (ten minutes older) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR-I1FDOr4g 
            Z. Bauman, Consuming life (preface & chap. I, p.77) http://loginbp.untrefvirtual.edu.ar/archivos/repositorio//1500/1544/html/Biblioteca/archivos/doc/Bauman_Vida_de_Consumo_Modo_de_compatibilidad.pdf 
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