Philosophical Threads in Psychology PSY-SJ>PhilThreads

1. Psychology – not that young and not that old. Roots in Philosophy. The “therapeutic” stream in philosophy.
2. Methodological achievements of philosophy used in psychology: what is science, what counts as evidence, what inferences are legitimate to make given the data, what are morally permissible reasoning or clinical methods?
3. Philosophical concerns in psychology: What is a human being? Dualism and monism. The concept of person. The idea of soul. Consciousness.
4. Philosophical concerns in psychology: what is a human being like. Free will vs determinism. The place of humans in the world.
5. A case study: C. Vitz, Psychology as religion
6. Philosophical concerns in psychology: body-mind problem
7. Philosophical concerns in psychology: how human comes to believe or know
8. Philosophical concerns in psychology: what is happiness. Is there a goal of human being? What is the meaning of life
9. A case study: Paul Bloom Against empathy
10. Philosophical concerns in psychology: Why are we moral? What is good and what is bad.

Expected student's average workload :
participation in classes – 30 h
preparing for general exam – 50 h
consultation meetings – 15 h
readings for on-line tests – 40 h
Total 135h = 5 ECTS

1. Domain Specificity and Intuitive Ontology.
2. Locating Places.
3. Commitment, Love, and Mate Retention.
4. Altruism and Genetic Relatedness.
5. Aggression.
6. The Evolution of Language.
7. The Evolution of Cognitive Bias.
8. The Evolution of Morality.
9. Evolutionary Cognitive Psychology.
10. Evolutionary Social Psychology.
11. Evolutionary Developmental Psychology.
12. Literature and Evolutionary Psychology.
13. Evolutionary Psychology and the Law.

1. Psychology – not that young and not that old. Roots in Philosophy. The “therapeutic” stream in philosophy.
2. Methodological achievements of philosophy used in psychology: what is science, what counts as evidence, what inferences are legitimate to make given the data, what are morally permissible reasoning or clinical methods?
3. Philosophical concerns in psychology: What is a human being? Dualism and monism. The concept of person. The idea of soul. Consciousness.
4. Philosophical concerns in psychology: what is a human being like. Free will vs determinism. The place of humans in the world.
5. A case study: C. Vitz, Psychology as religion
6. Philosophical concerns in psychology: body-mind problem
7. Philosophical concerns in psychology: how human comes to believe or know
8. Philosophical concerns in psychology: what is happiness. Is there a goal of human being? What is the meaning of life
9. A case study: Paul Bloom Against empathy
10. Philosophical concerns in psychology: Why are we moral? What is good and what is bad.

Expected student's average workload :
participation in classes – 30 h
preparing for general exam – 50 h
consultation meetings – 15 h
readings for on-line tests – 40 h
Total 135h = 5 ECTS

1. Psychology – not that young and not that old. Roots in Philosophy. The “therapeutic” stream in philosophy.
2. Methodological achievements of philosophy used in psychology: what is science, what counts as evidence, what inferences are legitimate to make given the data, what are morally permissible reasoning or clinical methods?
3. Philosophical concerns in psychology: What is a human being? Dualism and monism. The concept of person. The idea of soul. Consciousness.
4. Philosophical concerns in psychology: what is a human being like. Free will vs determinism. The place of humans in the world.
5. A case study: C. Vitz, Psychology as religion
6. Philosophical concerns in psychology: body-mind problem
7. Philosophical concerns in psychology: how human comes to believe or know
8. Philosophical concerns in psychology: what is happiness. Is there a goal of human being? What is the meaning of life
9. A case study: Paul Bloom Against empathy
10. Philosophical concerns in psychology: Why are we moral? What is good and what is bad.
11. A case study: J. Haidt, The Righteous mind

Expected student's average workload :
participation in classes – 30 h
preparing for general exam – 50 h
readings for on-line tests – 50 h
Total 125h = 5 ECTS

Bloom P., Against Empathy
Vitz C., Psychology as Religion

David M. Buss, The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, 2005 (course textbook).
David M. Buss, Evolutionary Psychology. The New Science of the Mind, Routledge, London and New York 2015.

Bloom P., Against Empathy
Vitz C., Psychology as Religion

Bloom P., Against Empathy
Haidt J., The Righteous Mind
Vitz C., Psychology as Religion

Note: for passing this course, you receive 5 ECTS, which means between 125 and 150 didactic hours of the student's work. This includes 30 hours of working in contact with the teacher during classes and up to 120 hours of independent work (reading texts and preparing for an exam). On average, 10 didactic hours should be devoted each week. Please take this into account when planning your work this semester, because if you do not devote enough time to these classes, you will neither receive the grade you would otherwise be able to obtain, nor will you be satisfied with your participation in the course.