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NOTA BENE: THIS IS NOT AN ERAMUS CLASS. IF YOU ARE AN ERAMUS STUDENT AND WANT TO ATTEND THIS CLASS, PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFOREHAND
Fall Semester 2021-2022 Charles University Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies (MA) Daniele De Santis, Ph. D. Office hours: Thursday 14:00-15:00 (Room: 221) Phenomenology and Speculative Realism: The Controversy over Correlation (Wednesday 09:10-10:45) Room: P217 1. General Description and Aims of the Module The goal of the present module is to discuss the phenomenological principle of “correlation,” with a special focus upon Husserl and Heidegger and in light in the recent criticism to which it has been submitted by the supporters of “speculative realism” ever since the publication of Q. Meillassoux, After Finitude. An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency. The booklet ignited a debate concerning the validity of the co-relation between consciousness (Dasein) and world and the very possibility of a transcendental philosophy worthy of its name. For this reason, the module will have a critical and discussion-based structure. Accordingly, we will take, as a point of departure, the first chapter of After Finitude, where the author introduces and further elaborates on the ancestrality-argument. The latter claims that, given the principle of “correlation” according to which the “world” is always and necessarily to be regarded as a correlate of the subject (be it consciousness or Dasein or other), then the very possibility of natural science (i.e., objective knowledge) is jeopardized once and for all. Prior to Meillassoux, however, this very same argument was presented by V. Lenin in his famous Materialism and Empiriocriticism of 1909: here Lenin had already harshly rejected the philosophies of correlation (primarily: the Kantian one) based upon the thesis that the necessary relation between consciousness and the world entails the de-materialization of this latter. A comparative analysis will hence be attempted between Lenin’s and Meillassoux’s own work so as to highlight analogies and differences between them. Our attention will finally turn to Husserl and Heidegger in order to both discuss how they understand the principle of correlation and verify whether they fall victim to the criticisms above. Poslední úprava: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (09.09.2021)
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Course Outline
Part 1: Lenin and Meillassoux: Two Attacks on the “Correlation” (readings from Materialism and Empiriocriticism and After Finitude) (Week 1-Week4)
Part 2: Husserl and the Transcendental Theory of Correlation (readings from Ideas I, Ideas II, and the Cartesian Meditations) (Week 5-Week 8)
Part 3: Heidegger and the Existential Correlation (readings from Being and Time and the lectures: The Metaphysical Foundation of Logic) (Week 9-Week 11)
Recapitulation (Week 12) Poslední úprava: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (31.08.2021)
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Students will be evaluated based upon the following two distinct parameters:
(1) Participation (which includes, yet is not limited to attendance, in-class active participation). If you are absent, please ask some of your classmates for any assignments or key discussion materials missed. (2) In-class presentation (topic, modality and date to be agreed upon with the teacher) (3) A Final Oral Exam (dates and additional info will be provided in due course) Poslední úprava: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (31.08.2021)
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Essential Bibliography
V. Lenin, Materialism and Empirio-Criticism. Foreign Languages Press 1972 Q. Meillassoux, After Finitude. An Essay on the Necessity of Contingency. Continuum 2008
E. Husserl, Ideas I. Hackett 2010 E. Husserl, Ideas for a Pure Phenomenology and a Phenomenological Philosophy. Second Book. Kluwer Academic Publishers 1990 E. Husserl, Cartesian Meditations. Springer 1960
M. Heidegger, Being and Time. State University of New York Press 1996 M. Heidegger, The Metaphysical Foundations of Logic. Indiana University Press 1992
Suggested Readings
T. Sparrow, The End of Phenomenology. Metaphysics and the New Realism. Edinburgh University Press 2014 E. Trizio, Philosophy’s Nature. Husserl’s Phenomenology, Natural Sciences and Metaphysics. Routledge 2021 Poslední úprava: De Santis Daniele, doc., Dott. Ric. (31.08.2021)
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