Class Introduction to Contemporary Thought

This course offers an introduction to some of the main authors and the debates that shaped, and continue to shape, the culture, philosophy and political thought in the twentieth and twenty-first century. Drawing on the contributions of a selection of modern and contemporary authors, the course explores possible, and divergent, answers to contemporary pilosophical and cultural challenges, through timeless concepts such as truth, justice or freedom.

Not applicable

1. The rupture with the classical tradition and the founders of modern political thought:  Machiavelli, Hobbes and Rousseau. 2. Kant`s contribution: idealism and universalism.  3. Democracy, liberalism and conservatism: Thomas Paine vs. Edmund Burke  3. Industrial Revolution, Utopian Socialism and Scientific Socialism  4. Modernity and disenchantment: Max Weber.  5. The (modern) Origins of Totalitarianism: Hannah Arendt 6. Pluralism: John Rawls 7. Deconstruction and the origins of Post-Modernity 8. Post-liberalism: John Gray and Patrick Deneen  9. Continuity, rupture and the challenges to contemporary thought. 

The course will include Oxford style debates, individual oral presentations, and the analysis or construction of case studies representative of contemporary debates. 

Arendt, H.  (2006). As Origens do Totalitarismo. Dom Quixote.  Deneen, P. (2019). Porque Está a Falhar o Liberalismo?. Gradiva.  Derrida, J. (1993). The Deconstruction of Actuality An Interview with Jacques Derrida. Entrevista publicada na revista Radical Philosophy.  rp68_interview_derrida.pdf (radicalphilosophyarchive.com) May, L. & Delston, J. (2016). Applied EthicsA Multicultural Approach (Sixth edition). Routledge.  Price, J. A. (2008). Contemporary thought: understanding philosphy. Chelsea House Pub.  Strauss, L. (1989).  The Three Waves of Modernity. In H. Gildin (ed.), An Introduction to Political Philosophy: Ten Essays by Leo Strauss. Wayne State University Press Detroit.  Weber, M. (2017). A Política Como Vocação (Seguido De) A Ciência Como Vocação. Clássicos do Pensamento Político.  (introdução de Miguel Morgado e tradução de Artur Morão). BookBuilders.