Universitat Internacional de Catalunya - Barcelona

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.

Head instructor

Dr. Pablo ROMERO - promero@uic.es
Dr. Miquel SOLANS - msolans@uic.es

Office hours

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

This module is based on the following premise: in order to address the main challenges and problems of our society, technical training should be supported by in-depth understanding of human condition. The aim of this course is to reflect on what it means to be human in our social and cultural context. The current crisis of the social and economic capitalist system and the welfare state makes this kind of training increasingly relevant and especially necessary for those who will be making decisions concerning other people in the future.

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The aim of this course is to reflect on the human condition from philosophical, sociological and psychological perspectives.

• 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.

• Analyse, from a philosophical perspective, what does it mean to be human in our contemporary context, focusing on three major topics: society, time and freedom.
• Examine the notion of “rationality”, its historical evolution and its social impact in Modern world.
• Gain an understanding of some of essential features of Postmodernity.
• Understand and be able to discuss philosophical and ethical problems embedded in our society.

1. Human being and society

1.1.  The advent of the “Mass-man”

1. J. Ortega y Gasset, The Revolt of the Masses (excerpts) and Rosh Douthat, “The Age of Individualism”, New York Times, March 15, 2014
2. Documentary: The Century of the Self. Part 1: Happiness Machines (S. Freud and E. Bernays)

1.2.  Consumerism and the human being as commodity

1. Z. Bauman, Consuming Life, “Chapter 2: The Society of Consumers”
2. Episode: Black Mirror 3/1: “Nosedive”

1.3.  The Postmodern Condition

1. Modernity and Postmodernity
2. Postmodern art, culture and society (Movie scenes: "The Truman Show")

2. Human being and time

2.1.  Back to the future

1. Deconstructing time (M. Heidegger, Being and time [excerpts])
2. The manifold experience of time: “empty” and “fulfilled” time (H. G. Gadamer, The relevance of the beautiful, pp. 41–42)
3. Short film: V. Erice, Lifeline.

2.2.  Time alienations and colonisations

1. Clocks, markets and capitalism (J. Martineau, Time, Capitalism and Alienation [excerpts])
2. Film: Modern Times
3. State of emergency and the tyranny of the present moment (Z. Bauman, Consuming Life, pp. 93-96)

2.3.  Saving time

1. Work vs. leisure (excerpts of Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics and Politics)
2. Leisure and intellectual work (J. Pieper, Leisure. The Basis of Culture)
3. The party (J. Pieper, In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity [excerpts])

3. Human being and freedom

3.1.  Freud meets Plato: postmodern drives, desires and mirages 

1. Z. Bauman, Liquid Love (excerpts)
2. Plato, Symposium and Gorgias (excerpts)

3.2.  Technology and the ethics of “giftedness”

1. M. Horkheimer and T. W. Adorno, Dialectics of Enlightenment (excerpts)
2. M. Sandel, “The Case Against Perfection”, The Atlantic Monthly, April 2004 (13 pp.)
3. Film: Gattaca

3.3.  What money can’t buy

1. M. Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy, Chapters 1 and 2

Chapter 0 Adaptation COVID-19
      Material
            ADDENDUM June 2020 (evaluation criteria) plantillaaddendaguiadocent_1rsemestre_catala.pdf 

The lessons will combine theoretical explanations and practical activities.

The module is assessed as follows:

- Midterm (20%)

- Final examination (50%) (Minimum required grade: 5/10) 

- Participation in class, assignments (15%)

- Final presentations (15%)

* No assignment will be accepted after the established deadline.

** 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.

REFERENCES

Texts:

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Ch. Rowe (trans.), Oxford University Press, 2002

Aristotle, Politics, C. D. C. Reeve (trans.), Hackett Publishing Co., 1998

Bauman, Z., Liquid Love, Polity Press, 2003

Bauman, Z., Consuming Life, Polity Press, 2007

Douthat, R., “The Age of Individualism”, New York Times, March 15, 2014

Gadamer,H.-G., The Relevance of the Beautiful and Other Essays, N. Walker (trans.), R. Bernasconi (ed.), Cambridge University Press, 1986.

Heidegger, M., Being and Time, J Macquarrie and E. Robinson (trans.), SCM Press, 1962

Horkheimer, M. and Adorno, T. W., Dialectic of Enlightenment: Philosophical Fragments, G. S. Noerr (ed.), E. Jephcott (trans.), Stanford University Press, 1947

Martineau, J., Time, Capitalism and Alienation. A Socio-Historical Inquiry into the Making of Modern Time, Brill, 2015

Ortega y Gasset, J., The Revolt of the Masses, W. W. Northon and Company, 1932

Pieper, J., Leisure. The Basis of Culture, G. Malsbary (trans.), St. Augustine Press, 1998

Pieper, J., In Tune with the World: A Theory of Festivity, R. Winston and C. Winston (trans.), St. Augustine Press, 1999

Plato, Complete Works, Cooper, J M, and D S Hutchinson (trans.), Oregan Publishing, 1997

Postman, N., Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, Viking, 1985

Sandel, M., “The Case Against Perfection”, The Atlantic Monthly, April 2004

Sandel, M., What Money Can’t Buy, FSG, 2012

Videos:

Documentary:

The Century of the Self. Part 1: Happiness Machines

Episode:

Black Mirror 3/1: “Nosedive”

Films:

Modern Times 

Gattaca

Lifeline (short)