21st Century Philosophy - AFS500345

• Title: 21st Century Philosophy
• Guaranteed by: Institute of Philosophy and Religious Studies (21-UFAR)
• Faculty: Faculty of Arts
• Actual: from 2025 to 2025
• Semester: summer
• Points: 0
• E-Credits: 5
• Examination process: summer s.:
• Hours per week, examination: summer s.:0/2, C [HT]
• Capacity: unknown / unlimited (20)
• Min. number of students: unlimited
• 4EU+: no
• Virtual mobility / capacity: no
• State of the course: taught
• Language: English
• Teaching methods: full-time
• Note: course can be enrolled in outside the study plan; enabled for web enrollment
• Guarantor: Sybren Heyndels, Ph.D.
• Teacher(s): Sybren Heyndels, Ph.D.

Annotation

In this advanced seminar, we will critically discuss some very influential articles in 21st century philosophy so far. The main objective of this course is to introduce students to a variety of ongoing discussions in contemporary philosophy, with a specific focus on societally relevant issues in our current century.

Last update: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (11.02.2026)

Course completion requirements

Attendance will be registered. More than three absences (starting from the first session after the Introduction session) will result in not passing the course. Students are required (1) to give one (+/- 15-20 min) presentation about one of the texts discussed in the seminar, (2) to actively participate in the seminar discussions, and (3) to send at least 7 questions about 7 different sessions (one question/session). The overall grade will consist of 40% active participation (attendance, 7 submitted questions, and participation), and 60% presentation. The credit is awarded for a final score of 50% or higher; scores below 50% do not lead to receiving the credit.

Last update: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (10.02.2026)

Literature

All articles can be found on Moodle: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=18740.

Last update: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (30.01.2026)

Syllabus

This is a preliminary list. Some changes might still be made:

17 February: Introduction

24 February: ‘Populism Versus Democracy’ (2007) by Koen Abts & Stefan Rummens

3 March: ‘The Epistemology of Democracy’ (2006) by Elizabeth Anderson

10 March: ‘False Confessions and Testimonial Injustice’ (2020) by Jennifer Lackey

17 March: ‘Conspiracy theories and evidential self-insulation’ (2021) by M.Giulia Napolitano

24 March: 'Slurring Words' (2013) by Luvell Anderson & Ernie Lepore

31 March: No class

7 April: Chapter 3 ‘The Discovery of Behavioral Surplus’ + Chapter 17 ‘The Right to Sanctuary’ (2019) by Shoshana Zubof

14 April: ‘In Defense of ‘Surveillance Capitalism’’ (2024) by Peter Königs

21 April: ‘How Twitter Gamifies Communication’ (2021) by C. Thi Nguyen

28 April: ‘Griefbots, deadbots, postmortem avatars: On responsible applications of generative AI in the digital afterlife industry’ (2024) by Tomasz Hollanek & Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska

5 May: ‘The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis’ (2010) by David Chalmers (Part I)

12 May: ‘The Singularity: A Philosophical Analysis’ (2010) by David Chalmers (Part II)

19 May: Q&A session

Last update: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (17.02.2026)

Entry requirements

This is an MA course. BA students are welcome (though priority will be given to MA students that register on the first day), but the seminar will be an advanced MA seminar, so more background knowledge is presupposed, the amount of preparatory readings is higher, and the level of discussion will be more demanding.

Important for exchange students: this is an MA course only open to Charles University students, so it is not possible to take this course.

Last update: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (30.01.2026)