The comprehensive exam in philosophical anthropology uses philosophical disputation to test students' understanding of fundamental philosophical concepts, and to assess their ability to debate upon a given philosophical issue, while drawing from the relevant readings of their choice.
Poslední úprava: Synek Stanislav, Mgr., Ph.D. (12.10.2020)
The comprehensive exam in philosophical anthropology uses philosophical disputation to test students' understanding of fundamental philosophical concepts, and to assess their ability to debate upon a given philosophical issue, while drawing from the relevant readings of their choice.
Poslední úprava: Synek Stanislav, Mgr., Ph.D. (12.10.2020)
Metody výuky - angličtina
Type of examination: oral (two-member board)
Question selection method: random selection (from the List of Problems)
Preparation time: 30 minutes
No study materials (notes etc.) or electronical devices (phones, computers etc.) are allowed.
Poslední úprava: Synek Stanislav, Mgr., Ph.D. (24.09.2024)
Sylabus - angličtina
Requirements and preparation
select and read thoroughly 12 relevant philosophical books/titles (see "List of Literature")
The student is required to choose at least twelve items from the List of Literature (for more information and specifications see the appropriate file) and study them carefully. Titles should be chosen with regard to the list of philosophical problems. The selected works should allow the student to be able to answer any question from the list. While answering the problem, the student should not refer to literature not included in the list. The list of literature thus defines the specific intellectual area for the disputation.
Students are advised to consult their list of literature with a teacher well before they register for the exam.
Note: The List of Problems is inspired by the medieval dialectical form of the “disputed questions”, a method of philosophical discussion aimed at addressing the relevant issues of the time. Each question presents a philosophical problem that can be addressed in different contexts.
Description of the examinaiton:
The aim of the exam is to test the student's ability to understand the content and argument of the selected books (!)and to articulate his or her understanding in a comprehensible way.
At the beginning of the exam, the student draws a question at random from the List of Problems (so-called questia: quaestiones disputatae).
He/she has approx. 30 minutes for preparation. No study materials (e.g. notes) or electronic devices (phones, computers, ...) are allowed.
In the examination itself, the student will be asked to present, develop and compare several answers to the question from different authors (at least two, preferably three). These answers must be based on the list of readings. In this crucial part of the examination, the student demonstrates his/her ability to use concepts and arguments from selected works. A discussion with the examiners is an important part of the examination.
The student may also be asked about any item in his/her list of literature. Proper use of literature in answering the philosophical problems (quaestiones disputatae) and level of student's understanding are evaluated.
Important notes:
It is not necessary to find a direct, explicit answer to the question in the texts, but rather to extract from them a perspective from which a meaningful answer can be given. In this way, you can extract a relevant answer to a question from a text that does not explicitly deal with the question.
It is not so important to find (in the texts) what the author says, but rather the reasons on the basis of which he says it. For example: In the Plato's dialogue Phaedo, it is easy to spot that according to (the character of) Socrates, the soul is immortal. But what are his arguments? Do they make sense? What are the objections (raised by Socrates' partners) in the dialogue?
Be careful when using online content and simplified explanations of difficult philosophical texts ("Plato in a nutshell" etc.). This exam does not aim to test the ability to compare philosophical approaches "as a whole" (e.g. what Plato's or Descartes' philosophy says "in general"), but rather the ability to understand and use arguments and concepts that can be found in the texts themselves. For example: we will not ask whether Plato was an "idealist" or a "materialist", but rather what arguments are presented in a particular dialogue.
Poslední úprava: Synek Stanislav, Mgr., Ph.D. (24.09.2024)
Požadavky k zápisu - angličtina
This course is specifically designed for 2nd grade students of Liberal Arts and Humanities programme, therefore on-line registration is disabled.
Poslední úprava: Švancarová Eva, Mgr. (18.08.2021)
