Course Description

Philosophy and Society concerns with a central feature of human life that we are social being which means that we associate with one another under the governance of rules that are determined by the inter-relationship of tradition, custom, law, and choice. The course is dedicated to the questions that are related to the meaning and nature of human society, it especially questions the relation of the individuals and a community and the social structures that allows for mutual coexistence.
The class presentations, research-reading and discussions include historical and systematic chapters. We will study the nature of society as it was understood by Plato and Aristotle, the medieval Christian understanding of society by Augustin Aurelius and Thomas Aquinas, modern notion of society and especially contemporary concepts and discussions of society. In the systematic part, we will identify various particular systems in society.
We will examine the systems of politics with law and the state, the area of science and technology, the system of economics, the system of the family and the system of ethics and world-views from the point of view of social philosophy.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
– Critically discuss the nature of ancient, medieval and modern societies from the point of view of social philosophy;
– Critically discuss how philosophers reflected the societies that they were part of;
– Critically discuss the main arguments of the contemporary social philosophers;
– Critically think through a variety of questions of the relation of the individuals and a society and the social structures that allows for mutual coexistence from the point of view of particular systems (politics, law, science and technology, economics, family, and world-views).

*Course content subject to change