Universitat Internacional de Catalunya - BarcelonaAnthropology
Matter: Anthropology
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
Dra. Maria Victoria ROQUÉ - vroque@uic.es
Dr. Bernat TORRES - btorres@uic.es
Office hours
Make an appointment with the teacher via e-mail
Dr. Bernat Torres (btorres@uic.es)
The growing scientific-technical developments in the field of dentistry require professionals to integrate them with knowledge of the humanistic sciences in order to avoid a fragmented view of the patient. The Anthropology course aims to provide students with the skills and resources needed to acquire a coherent, complete picture of the person and to a recognition of the plurality of their existential dimensions; physical, psychological, social and spiritual, and relate them accordingly. The subject will provide the students with a better understanding of the necessary coordination between the technical and the human dimension of their profession. The understanding of such coordination will serve to overcome the limitations of a purely technical response to disease and illness and will also contribute to improving the humanistic aspects of the professional skills of the students, meeting in this way society’s demands.
Concepts such as health, illness, pain or suffering require, to be properly understood, a global view of the human being which must take into account its vulnerability and its dignity. The subject of Anthropology will give students a profound and rigorous reflection on the nature of the human being, its possibilities and limits, a reflection that the practice of a health profession inevitably requires.
The practice of odontology raises issues that require reflection into the person, and their possibilities and limitations, to have been undertaken; issues addressed in a rigorous manner by Anthropology .
None required
1. Critically and thoughtfully consider those interpretations of the human being which prevail in our socio-cultural system, taking into account the implications of these in the understanding of health and illness, pain and suffering.
2. Attain a global vision of the person, as a complex and multi-dimensional reality, taking into account in the level of philosophical reflection the numerous results achieved thanks to the ongoing development of the various biological, social and human sciences.
3. Provide conceptual tools to analyze and evaluate rigorously the various problems facing humanity in the contemporary world, focusing most particularly on those related to the health care world, such as, for example, those situations in which the dependence, vulnerability or fragility of the human person is evident.
1. Rate humanistic education as necessary for professionals in Dentistry
2. Getting properly integrate technical side and the human side of dentistry
3. Explore the need to develop a person-centered dentistry
4. Awareness of the complex reality of human beings and of the plurality of dimensions that shape him as a person
5. Understand the important implications of the social and cultural diversity for the understanding of disease and health.
6. Discover the meaning and value of the fundamental principle of the dignity of the human person , particularly in areas related to pain, illness or any other vulnerability and limitation.
7. Acquire an understanding of the importance of interpersonal communication in the context of the therapeutic relationship .
8. Reflect on the impact of technological mediation in the way patient care and the development of the therapeutic relationship .
9. Understand the importance of acquiring fundamental principles and attitudes for the humane treatment of the patient: compassion, competence , confidence, trust .
10. Reflect on the pain and suffering.
1. Understand and incorporate the basics of anthropological knowledge into the professional language.
2. Be able to explain the fundamentals of human existence and behaviour, so as to be able to responsibly accept the ethical implications of their medical practice.
3. Be responsible for the tasks assigned.
4. Value the need to dignify interpersonal relations, with special emphasis on the healthcare field.
5. Be able to accept and understand the transcendental meaning of pain and illness
6. To promote, in the context of a pluralistic society, an attitude open to dialogue, while at the same time sufficiently critical and reflexive, when considering different anthropological proposals.
Unit 1: Anthropology as the study of Human Nature
Unit 2: Human life and animal life
Unit 3: Nature, Culture and Rationaliy
Unit 4: Nature, Culture and Freedom
Unit 5: Human embodiment
Unit 6: The affective dimension
Unit 7: Human rationality and language
Unit 8: The Person: singularity and freedom
Unit 9: The person as a social being
Unit 10: The dignity of the human being
Unit 11 The vulnerability of the human being
Unit 12: Death and illness in the human being
Chapter En moodle
The course is usually taught through theoretical (lectures) and practical sessions (Seminars). The lectures will develop the main themes and concepts of the subject laid out in the syllabus. The practical classes or Seminars will primarily be based on the analysis of texts and audiovisual materials aimed at illustrating and going deeper into the concepts explained previously. The activities to be carried out will be found on the Moodle platform.
a. Partial exam: 20%.
b. Seminars: 20%.
c. Final exam: 60%.
in order to enter the evaluation process, students need to obtain a minimum grade of 5 out of 10 in the Seminar and the final exam.
The copying of, forgery or fraud in individual or group assignments, class attendance, or written or oral examinations, is a serious offense leading to an immediate failing grade in the subject . If repeated, disciplinary action will be taken against the perpetrator.
See: RULES OF THE DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITAT INTERNACIONAL DE CATALUNYA. CHAPTER I OF DISCIPLINARY OFFENSES. Section 2. G) h)
YEPES STORK, R., Fundamentos de antropología. Un ideal de excelencia humana, Eunsa, Pamplona, 1996.
VICENTE ARREGU, J. Y CHOZA J; Filosofía del hombre. Una antropología de la intimidad, ICF-UNAV, Rialp, Madrid, 1995.
LANGLOIS, IBAÑEZ., Introducción a la antropología, Pamplona, Eunsa, 1989.
SELLÉS, JF., Antropología para inconformes, Instituto de Ciencias para la Familia, Rialp, Madrid, 2006.
AMENGUAL COLL, G., la persona humana . El debate sobre su concepto, Síntesis, Madrid, 2015.
De consulta:
ANRUBIA, E. (ed.), La fragilidad de los hombres. La enfermedad, la filosofía y la muerte, Ed. Cristiandad, Madrid, 2008.
ARREGUI, Jorge V. El horror de morir. Tibidabo, Barcelona 1992.
ESCRIBANO, X. (ed.), Territoris humans de la salut. Societat, cultura i valors en el món sanitari, Ed. Dux, Barcelona, 2008.
BUBER, M., ¿Qué es el hombre?, Fondo de Cultura Económica, Madrid, 1986.
GEHLEN, A., El hombre. Su naturaleza y su lugar en el mundo, Sígueme, Salamanca, 1987.
GONZÁLEZ GARCÍA, M. (comp.), Filosofía y dolor; Madrid: Tecnos, 2006.
GORDILLO, L., Aprender a vivir, aprender a morir, Fundcrea, Alicante, 1998.
HENNEZEL, MARIE de, La muerte íntima, Plaza &Janés, Barcelona, 1996.
HILDEBRAND, D., El corazón. Un análisis de la afectividad humana y divina, Madrid, Palabra, 1997.
LEWIS, C. S. Los cuatro amores. Rialp, Mardid 1993.
El problema del dolor. Rialp, Madrid 1994.
E: exam date | R: revision date | 1: first session | 2: second session: