21st Century Philosophy - AFS500345

• Anglický název: 21st Century Philosophy
• Zajišťuje: Ústav filosofie a religionistiky (21-UFAR)
• Fakulta: Filozofická fakulta
• Platnost: od 2025
• Semestr: letní
• Body: 0
• E-Kredity: 5
• Způsob provedení zkoušky: letní s.:
• Rozsah, examinace: letní s.:0/2, Z [HT]
• Počet míst: neurčen / neomezen (20)
• Minimální obsazenost: neomezen
• 4EU+: ne
• Virtuální mobilita / počet míst pro virtuální mobilitu: ne
• Stav předmětu: vyučován
• Jazyk výuky: angličtina
• Způsob výuky: prezenční
• Garant: Sybren Heyndels, Ph.D.
• Vyučující: Sybren Heyndels, Ph.D.

Anotace

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 huge variety of ongoing discussions in contemporary philosophy, with a specific focus on societally relevant issues in our current century.

Poslední úprava: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (30.01.2026)

Podmínky zakončení předmětu

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 60% active participation (attendance, 7 submitted questions, and participation), and 40% presentation. The credit is awarded for a final score of 50% or higher; scores below 50% do not lead to receiving the credit.

Poslední úprava: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (30.01.2026)

Literatura

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

Poslední úprava: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (30.01.2026)

Sylabus

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: ‘Epistemic Vigilance’ (2010) by Dan Sperber et al.

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

24 March: TBC

31 March: No class

7 April: ‘Big Other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization’ (2015) by Shoshana Zuboff

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

Poslední úprava: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (30.01.2026)

Vstupní požadavky

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.

Poslední úprava: Heyndels Sybren, Ph.D. (30.01.2026)