180184 VU M-03 Argumentieren in der Philosophie (2017W)

Achtung: die Unterrichtssprache von diesem Kurs ist Englisch!

The aim of the course is to teach students the basics of good argumentation. The course will especially focus on the subtleties of argumentative strategy that goes beyond mere logical validity. We will look at the characteristics of a good philosophical argument by investigating the relative importance and strength of adopted premises compared to the strength of derived conclusions. We will look at central issues such as the burden of proof, and how shifting it changes the dialectical structure of debates. Moreover, we will look in detail at a series of argumentative strategies and investigate their strength and weaknesses. Among these are: exhaustive arguments, arguments from intuition, the use of analogy and metaphor, arguments from simplicity, and transcendental arguments. The course will take outset in a series of central philosophical texts that are good or bad exemplars of the issue under discussion. These texts will be taken from various philosophical traditions, topics, and time periods, to teach students that good philosophical methodology is central to every branch of philosophy and share an underlying structure.

Every class with deal with at least one aspect of philosophical argumentation exemplified in the text under discussion. Every text will be analyzed considering the two questions: ‘What is the text trying to convince us of?’, and ‘What argumentative mechanism does it use to do so?’. Classes begin with a student presentation concerning these questions. Subsequently, the class will jointly debate the issue. Thereafter, the seminar will proceed with a thorough text reading, where we identify the key phrases and passages that constitute the argumentation in the text. Finally, each lecture will end with a broader discussion of the present issues, as well as with a brief presentation of the issues central to the next reading.

Ziel der Vorlesung mit Übung: Die Fähigkeit, philosophische Argumente zu erkennen und zu analysieren.

Methode: Vortrag zur Schaffung einer begrifflichen Grundlage. Besprechen von Beispielen, um das vorgestellte Material einzuüben. Gemeinsame Analyse von philosophischen Texten, die über die e-Plattform moodle zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Referate (Stundenwiederholungen) und Podiumsdiskussionen.