The aim of the course is to provide students with a more comprehensive and deeper insight into the different theoretical approaches within the humanities. In the course, the main theories that have influenced theoretical discussion in the humanities over the last decades will be presented and discussed, and the students are taught how to apply them in their own research.

History of Ideas after 1750.

In the courses Communication channels I and Communication channels II, the basics of methods for the dissemination of cultural material in the humanities and social sciences are presented. Communication channels I is in the fall semester, while Communication channels II is in the spring semester. 

In Communication channels I, the students are working with a) text and images in the first half of the semester and b) short documentaries in the second half of the course. Each subject weighs 50% in the course. Concerning a) Students will receive training in article writing and discourse analysis on the one hand and use of images and image analysis on the other.  Concerning b) Students work on making short documentaries. It includes basic training in screenwriting, shooting and editing, and students work in groups on a documentary, according to a specific theme. 

There are no exams in the course. Instead, students work on projects, individual and group projects. They are the following:

1. Analysis of texts and images
2. An article with an image on a specific theme for publication, about 800 words.
3. A group project where students work on a short documentary that is shown at the end of the course. Emphasis is placed on common themes and group work in the course. The course is not taught remotely.

This course provides an introduction to contemporary issues in the social epistemology of science. On the one hand, we will address questions about the relationship between science and values: do ethical, political, and social values play a legitimate role in scientific research? Or do they endanger the objectivity of science, so their influence should be eliminated or curtailed? On the other hand, we will discuss questions about the nature of group knowledge: can groups or communities know more than what the individuals within them do? Or does the knowledge of a group reduce to individual knowledge? In a society where science produces both technological goods and wields political power, this course aims to equip students with tools for thinking critically about science in society, values in science, and the social nature of scientific research by drawing on the growing field of social epistemology of science.

Direct study in seminar: The social side of science. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

What is artificial intelligence (AI), and how – if at all – does it differ from ordinary (human) intelligence? Are there any inherent limitations to AI, or could AI systems one day become superior to human agents in every way that matters? What ethical problems arise from the ever-growing use of AI, and from the possibility of creating entirely autonomous AI systems? And what role does and will AI play in the progress of science, in philosophical research, and other types of systematic inquiry? This seminar explores philosophical questions of this sort, raised by the emergence of increasingly powerful AI technologies.

Direct study in seminar: The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

"The struggle does not end today," was written on a banner held by one of the 25,000 women who rallied in downtown Reykjavík on the 24th of October 1975. The Women's Day Off, as the organizers ironically called it, was essentially a strike to protest gender-based discrimination and wage differentials. The banner mentioned above is only one example of many of how the women communicated their views and demands through different media such as music, print, public speeches, and mass media. The Women's Day Off was the result of a collective agency of Icelandic actors, but their initiative should still be regarded in an international context as the women were urged to unite under the theme of the International Women's Year: "EQUALITY - DEVELOPMENT - PEACE. "

The course is built around the Women's Day Off in 1975, but as teachers and students research its historical legacy in Icelandic and international context, they will explore and implement new ways of communicating history with younger generations. The course is organized in collaboration with Rúv and The Women's History Archives, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an exhibition at the National Library.

The seminar will be dedicated to a thorough reading and discussion of several of Merleau-Ponty’s key texts. His emphasis on perception, embodiment, intertwining and responsiveness will be studied in a phenomenological context. Attention will also be paid to his philosophy of art and nature. Finally, his works will be assessed and discussed in light of contemporary engagements with them.

Direct study in seminar: Body, intertwining, responsiveness: Aspects of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

A survey of Icelandic handwriting in the period and of methods of transcription. Students learn to read different kinds of handwriting from the period.

The focus of this course is the application of ethics to pressing problems and debates in contemporary society. Possible methods for solving ethical dilemmas, both on an individual and social basis, are discussed. The selection of topics may change from year to year, but possible topics include free speech, the status of refugees, animal rights, poverty and economic inequality, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, environmental issues, and various issues in health care. The relation between theoretical and applied ethics is discussed. While instruction includes lectures, student participation in discussion is greatly emphasized.

This course covers the role of public archives and archiving and record management in the past and present. The importance of the principle of provenance for archives and history. A summary of the history of administration. The activities and legal environment of public archives in Iceland will be discussed and their role in records management in public administration. What organizations are obliged to transfer their records to public archives. The evolution of archiving and records management in the 20th and 21st centuries will be examined. Methods of records managements, old and new. The sorting and cataloguing of archives.

The current surge of nationalist, populist right-wing parties and authoritarian regimes not only poses a challenge to traditional political elites and to the functioning of liberal-democratic systems. It also invites comparisons with historical fascism and authoritarian rule in the interwar period, raising the question of how to define, classify, and position these parties, regimes, and ideologies on the political spectrum. The course deals with crises of the liberal order and the effects of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries by focusing on historical fascism and Nazism as well as contemporary populist and authoritarian formations. While the focus will be on Europe, ultra-nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies in other parts of the world will also be considered. The emphasis will be on historiographical and theoretical problems relating to the ideologies of fascism, authoritarianism, and populism; the effects of economic and political crises on the rise of radical nationalist movements; the roles of race, ethnicity, and gender; ideas about modernization, culture, welfare and racism, and foreign policy platforms. Populist and authoritarian regimes in the present will be put in a historical context, their programs and policies explored, and an attempt will be made to explain what has been termed “populist authoritarianism.”

An individual project on the ethics of nature.

This seminar engages with theories on culture, narrative, and mediation. Active class participation is required.

Conventional sociological or historical accounts tend to portray human life as if objects either are irrelevant or at best, passive and inert. This course follows the ‘material turn’ that has occurred in the social sciences and the humanities in the past 20 years and explores the importance of things for understanding human society and history. Drawing on examples from a wide range of disciplines from design history to archaeology, each week a different object is taken for study, illustrating the various disciplinary and theoretical approaches that have been taken to material culture in recent years. The course will be organized around weekly lectures, reading and discussion. The course will be taught in english.

The course deals with the connection between Man and Nature from the viewpoint of Moral Philosophy. It discusses the main proponents of and theories within Environmental Ethics and describes the roots of differing views of Nature, as well as different ethical orientations, i.e. anthropocentric, ecocentric, and biocentric positions. The course also deals with the integration of environmental and developmental issues, and with the connection between environmentalism and democracy. Amongst central issues discussed are the following: Can Ethics provide guidance in the solution of environmental problems?, What type of beings are worthy of moral considerability?, Can natural phenomena possess intrinsic value?, Do animals have rights?, Is there any fundanmental difference in men's and women's relations to Nature?, and, What is the ethical basis of sustainable development?

Historical and historiographical survey of major topics in the history of the medieval North, with special emphasis on Iceland and Norway from the Viking Age into the fourteenth century. Topics include: power, kingship and state; law and feud; kinship, gender and social ties; religious and mental outlook(s); conversion, Christianity and church; economic conditions. Prior knowledge of the “factual” narrative is helpful but not necessary. Reading ability in German and/or the modern Scandinavian languages is also helpful but, again, not necessary (all mandatory readings are in English). Students produce a paper and lead discussion; no final exam.

The course is intended for postgraduate students only. It is adapted to the needs of students from different fields of study. The course is taught over a six-week period.

The course is taught over the first six weeks of spring semester on Fridays from 1:20 pm - 3:40 pm.

Description: 
The topics of the course include: Professionalism and the scientist’s responsibilities. Demands for scientific objectivity and the ethics of research. Issues of equality and standards of good practice. Power and science. Conflicts of interest and misconduct in research. Science, academia and industry. Research ethics and ethical decision making.

Objectives: 
In this course, the student gains knowledge about ethical issues in science and research and is trained in reasoning about ethical controversies relating to science and research in contemporary society.

The instruction takes the form of lectures and discussion. The course is viewed as an academic community where students are actively engaged in a focused dialogue about  the topics. Each student (working as a member of a two-person team) gives a presentation according to a plan designed at the beginning of the course, and other students acquaint themselves with the topic as well for the purpose of participating in a teacher-led discussion.

This is a project that can be chosen as an addition to HSP806F Ethics of Science and Research and can only be taken along with that course.

This course is taught in Icelandic and is intended for graduate students and BA students in their final year. It presents the main theories of psychoanalysis in light of philosophy and literary and cultural studies. It also concentrates on the contribution of psychoanalysis to further our understanding of culture and cultural achievements such as literature and cinema. It is taught twice a week, students give presentations and write a final essay.

A discussion of some controversial issues in the field of bioethics, in particular those relating to developments in genetics and their possible effects upon medical services and health care policy.

The course deals with interconnections between political radicalism, culture, tradition and power. We will focus on contemporary representations of dissent in particular, look at the discourse of democracy and cultural difference, reactions to and criticism of protest in the Western political tradition and dissent in more repressive political systems. The role of intellectuals and writers will be explored as well as the function of artistic expression and design in transforming cultural and social environments. We will also discuss media and social media discourse in connection with an attempt to understand the various and sometimes contradictory objectives of public institutions. A few points of conflict will be discussed that to some extent expose fundamental conflicts in liberal democratic societies such as questions about the wisdom and ignorance of publics, reactions to climate change, inequality and extreme poverty. Finally corruption and power will be discussed as well as social and cultural expression, the possibilities and limitations of freedom of speech, the use and abuse of information, disinformation, secrecy, fake and “fake news”.

In the course Communication channels II during the spring semester the students work with the following communication methods: a) oral presentation and b) exhibitions of cultural and historical material. Digital communication will be integrated into both aspects.

The students will work with the basics of oral presentation and practice in smaller and larger groups. Basic issues regarding the organization of conferences and seminars and their management will also be reviewed and a conference is held where all students present their projects. Digital communication will also be integrated into this section. Following is a section about exhibitions with connection to digital communication. The basics of exhibitions and different ways of presentation will be discussed.  The basics of digital communication will be covered, what are the main channels, advantages and disadvantages, and what rules apply to the presentation of texts on the web.

There are no exams in the course. Instead, students work on projects, individual and group projects. They are the following:

1. Lecture at a conference and other projects in that context
2. Exhibition analysis and a practical project in connection with exhibitions organized by the City History Museum (Borgarsögusafn)
3. Digital communication will be integrated into both aspects. Emphasis is placed on common themes and group work in the course.

The course is not taught remotely.

The course offers an in-depth study of the Icelandic 18^th Century household. What different types of households were there and what was the difference between the households of peasants, fishermen, pastors, lodgers or paupers? How did young people move out of their parents’ households and start their own? How did households provide for their members and what additional expenses such as rent, taxes and dues did they need to pay? How did subsistence farming work and did the households engage in any trading? The course introduces the rich sources of the time period to students, which provide us with insights into daily life in the period, from the census of 1703 to travel journals and magazine articles of Enlightment writers of the late 18^th century. Among other exercises, students practice methods of digital data entry for quantitative study.

"Echoes of a Global Medieval Ages in Contemporary History" is a course that explores the intersection of medieval and contemporary eras, considering how memories, symbols, and narratives from the medieval world continue to shape current ideologies, identities, and global perspectives. Through a thematic, regional examination, the course analyzes how different societies today reinterpret and reconstruct their medieval pasts, addressing legacies of imperialism, nationalism, and cultural exchange. Key topics include the influence of medieval governance, cultural symbols, trade networks, and ideological conflicts on contemporary issues.

This course examines the status of women in Iceland during the long nineteenth century. The aim is to explore sources that shed light on women's circumstances, opportunities, and agency, both in rural areas and villages. The period will be examined both thematically and chronologically, exploring and analysing changes in women's status and agency. The course will explore what legal rights women had – were they autonomous? Could they travel abroad for education or travel at all? Could they marry whom they wanted? Run their own business? What kind of clothes did they wear? What work did they do inside and outside of the home? The status of women in Iceland will be examined in a transnational context, both concerning legal rights and agency, as well as in relation to major theoretical frameworks about women's history in the nineteenth century (e.g., separate spheres). The period spans from the late eighteenth century, from which time sources such as private letters and biographical texts are preserved, to c. 1900 when the struggle for women's rights had begun in Iceland and new times were ahead. The course will delve into memoirs, funeral speeches, and correspondence along with other sources and scholarly works about the period to get as close as possible to women's experiences and attitudes.

In the seminar we will consider contemporary philosophers who maintain that human beings are not beings whose ethical siginficance is a function of the ethical significance of some given set of attributes or capacities or interests they happen to possess. One way of phrasing this insight is to say that human beings are all inside ethics simply in virtue of being human. We will consider whether the same arguments apply to some non-human animals. We will read Alice Crary’s book Inside Ethics (Harvard Univeristy Press, 2016) and selected essays by Cora Diamond and Simone Weil, among others.

Direct study in seminar: Inside and outside ethics. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

The course will introduce three main traditions of medieval philosophy (Arabic, Jewish and Latin), their origin and background, their contributions and their interconnections. Readings will consist in representative texts by philosophers of the three traditions. The first part of the course will provide context and overview, while in the second part, students will give an in-class presentation of a selected text that they contextualise, analyse and evaluate.

Direct study in seminar: Western, Islamic and Jewish philosophy in the Middle Ages. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

Students learn and are trained in the methods of archival research, finding and evaluating sources in archives.  Practical exercises will be assigned.

Overview of the history of the Viking age and history of Viking research. Emphasis is placed on the archaeological evidence, the sites and the objects, and discussing how archaeological data has contributed to our understanding of this period. Particular attention is given to economic patterns, issues of ethnicity and state formation.

In the course, well-known historical studies from Western culture will be read that deal with a variety of topics. An attempt will be made to show how historians, both at the end of the twentieth century and at the beginning of the twenty-first century, struggle with different topics in their research. The discussion will be put into an ideological context and emphasis will be placed on showing the different approaches of historians when the subject has been connected to the aforementioned field of study. An attempt was made to select interesting books that are likely to give us an interesting picture of the state of the arts of history today.

In the courses Communication channels I and Communication channels II, the basics of methods for the dissemination of cultural material in the humanities and social sciences are presented. Communication channels I is in the fall semester, while Communication channels II is in the spring semester. 

In Communication channels I, the students are working with a) text and images in the first half of the semester and b) short documentaries in the second half of the course. Each subject weighs 50% in the course. Concerning a) Students will receive training in article writing and discourse analysis on the one hand and use of images and image analysis on the other.  Concerning b) Students work on making short documentaries. It includes basic training in screenwriting, shooting and editing, and students work in groups on a documentary, according to a specific theme. 

There are no exams in the course. Instead, students work on projects, individual and group projects. They are the following:

1. Analysis of texts and images
2. An article with an image on a specific theme for publication, about 800 words.
3. A group project where students work on a short documentary that is shown at the end of the course. Emphasis is placed on common themes and group work in the course. The course is not taught remotely.

This course provides an introduction to contemporary issues in the social epistemology of science. On the one hand, we will address questions about the relationship between science and values: do ethical, political, and social values play a legitimate role in scientific research? Or do they endanger the objectivity of science, so their influence should be eliminated or curtailed? On the other hand, we will discuss questions about the nature of group knowledge: can groups or communities know more than what the individuals within them do? Or does the knowledge of a group reduce to individual knowledge? In a society where science produces both technological goods and wields political power, this course aims to equip students with tools for thinking critically about science in society, values in science, and the social nature of scientific research by drawing on the growing field of social epistemology of science.

Direct study in seminar: The social side of science. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

What is artificial intelligence (AI), and how – if at all – does it differ from ordinary (human) intelligence? Are there any inherent limitations to AI, or could AI systems one day become superior to human agents in every way that matters? What ethical problems arise from the ever-growing use of AI, and from the possibility of creating entirely autonomous AI systems? And what role does and will AI play in the progress of science, in philosophical research, and other types of systematic inquiry? This seminar explores philosophical questions of this sort, raised by the emergence of increasingly powerful AI technologies.

Direct study in seminar: The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

"The struggle does not end today," was written on a banner held by one of the 25,000 women who rallied in downtown Reykjavík on the 24th of October 1975. The Women's Day Off, as the organizers ironically called it, was essentially a strike to protest gender-based discrimination and wage differentials. The banner mentioned above is only one example of many of how the women communicated their views and demands through different media such as music, print, public speeches, and mass media. The Women's Day Off was the result of a collective agency of Icelandic actors, but their initiative should still be regarded in an international context as the women were urged to unite under the theme of the International Women's Year: "EQUALITY - DEVELOPMENT - PEACE. "

The course is built around the Women's Day Off in 1975, but as teachers and students research its historical legacy in Icelandic and international context, they will explore and implement new ways of communicating history with younger generations. The course is organized in collaboration with Rúv and The Women's History Archives, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an exhibition at the National Library.

The seminar will be dedicated to a thorough reading and discussion of several of Merleau-Ponty’s key texts. His emphasis on perception, embodiment, intertwining and responsiveness will be studied in a phenomenological context. Attention will also be paid to his philosophy of art and nature. Finally, his works will be assessed and discussed in light of contemporary engagements with them.

Direct study in seminar: Body, intertwining, responsiveness: Aspects of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

A survey of Icelandic handwriting in the period and of methods of transcription. Students learn to read different kinds of handwriting from the period.

The focus of this course is the application of ethics to pressing problems and debates in contemporary society. Possible methods for solving ethical dilemmas, both on an individual and social basis, are discussed. The selection of topics may change from year to year, but possible topics include free speech, the status of refugees, animal rights, poverty and economic inequality, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, environmental issues, and various issues in health care. The relation between theoretical and applied ethics is discussed. While instruction includes lectures, student participation in discussion is greatly emphasized.

This course covers the role of public archives and archiving and record management in the past and present. The importance of the principle of provenance for archives and history. A summary of the history of administration. The activities and legal environment of public archives in Iceland will be discussed and their role in records management in public administration. What organizations are obliged to transfer their records to public archives. The evolution of archiving and records management in the 20th and 21st centuries will be examined. Methods of records managements, old and new. The sorting and cataloguing of archives.

The current surge of nationalist, populist right-wing parties and authoritarian regimes not only poses a challenge to traditional political elites and to the functioning of liberal-democratic systems. It also invites comparisons with historical fascism and authoritarian rule in the interwar period, raising the question of how to define, classify, and position these parties, regimes, and ideologies on the political spectrum. The course deals with crises of the liberal order and the effects of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries by focusing on historical fascism and Nazism as well as contemporary populist and authoritarian formations. While the focus will be on Europe, ultra-nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies in other parts of the world will also be considered. The emphasis will be on historiographical and theoretical problems relating to the ideologies of fascism, authoritarianism, and populism; the effects of economic and political crises on the rise of radical nationalist movements; the roles of race, ethnicity, and gender; ideas about modernization, culture, welfare and racism, and foreign policy platforms. Populist and authoritarian regimes in the present will be put in a historical context, their programs and policies explored, and an attempt will be made to explain what has been termed “populist authoritarianism.”

An individual project on the ethics of nature.

This seminar engages with theories on culture, narrative, and mediation. Active class participation is required.

Conventional sociological or historical accounts tend to portray human life as if objects either are irrelevant or at best, passive and inert. This course follows the ‘material turn’ that has occurred in the social sciences and the humanities in the past 20 years and explores the importance of things for understanding human society and history. Drawing on examples from a wide range of disciplines from design history to archaeology, each week a different object is taken for study, illustrating the various disciplinary and theoretical approaches that have been taken to material culture in recent years. The course will be organized around weekly lectures, reading and discussion. The course will be taught in english.

The course deals with the connection between Man and Nature from the viewpoint of Moral Philosophy. It discusses the main proponents of and theories within Environmental Ethics and describes the roots of differing views of Nature, as well as different ethical orientations, i.e. anthropocentric, ecocentric, and biocentric positions. The course also deals with the integration of environmental and developmental issues, and with the connection between environmentalism and democracy. Amongst central issues discussed are the following: Can Ethics provide guidance in the solution of environmental problems?, What type of beings are worthy of moral considerability?, Can natural phenomena possess intrinsic value?, Do animals have rights?, Is there any fundanmental difference in men's and women's relations to Nature?, and, What is the ethical basis of sustainable development?

Historical and historiographical survey of major topics in the history of the medieval North, with special emphasis on Iceland and Norway from the Viking Age into the fourteenth century. Topics include: power, kingship and state; law and feud; kinship, gender and social ties; religious and mental outlook(s); conversion, Christianity and church; economic conditions. Prior knowledge of the “factual” narrative is helpful but not necessary. Reading ability in German and/or the modern Scandinavian languages is also helpful but, again, not necessary (all mandatory readings are in English). Students produce a paper and lead discussion; no final exam.

Course description: Examples from the history of science and technology in Iceland are discussed in the light of national and international developments. Among the lecturers are experts in the natural sciences, technology and medical sciences. The students write a paper on a topic chosen in consultation with one or more of the teachers and give a short oral presentation.

Research Project for MA-thesis in collaboration with supervisor.

Final project.

The aim of the course is to provide students with a more comprehensive and deeper insight into the different theoretical approaches within the humanities. In the course, the main theories that have influenced theoretical discussion in the humanities over the last decades will be presented and discussed, and the students are taught how to apply them in their own research.

History of Ideas after 1750.

In the courses Communication channels I and Communication channels II, the basics of methods for the dissemination of cultural material in the humanities and social sciences are presented. Communication channels I is in the fall semester, while Communication channels II is in the spring semester. 

In Communication channels I, the students are working with a) text and images in the first half of the semester and b) short documentaries in the second half of the course. Each subject weighs 50% in the course. Concerning a) Students will receive training in article writing and discourse analysis on the one hand and use of images and image analysis on the other.  Concerning b) Students work on making short documentaries. It includes basic training in screenwriting, shooting and editing, and students work in groups on a documentary, according to a specific theme. 

There are no exams in the course. Instead, students work on projects, individual and group projects. They are the following:

1. Analysis of texts and images
2. An article with an image on a specific theme for publication, about 800 words.
3. A group project where students work on a short documentary that is shown at the end of the course. Emphasis is placed on common themes and group work in the course. The course is not taught remotely.

This course provides an introduction to contemporary issues in the social epistemology of science. On the one hand, we will address questions about the relationship between science and values: do ethical, political, and social values play a legitimate role in scientific research? Or do they endanger the objectivity of science, so their influence should be eliminated or curtailed? On the other hand, we will discuss questions about the nature of group knowledge: can groups or communities know more than what the individuals within them do? Or does the knowledge of a group reduce to individual knowledge? In a society where science produces both technological goods and wields political power, this course aims to equip students with tools for thinking critically about science in society, values in science, and the social nature of scientific research by drawing on the growing field of social epistemology of science.

Direct study in seminar: The social side of science. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

What is artificial intelligence (AI), and how – if at all – does it differ from ordinary (human) intelligence? Are there any inherent limitations to AI, or could AI systems one day become superior to human agents in every way that matters? What ethical problems arise from the ever-growing use of AI, and from the possibility of creating entirely autonomous AI systems? And what role does and will AI play in the progress of science, in philosophical research, and other types of systematic inquiry? This seminar explores philosophical questions of this sort, raised by the emergence of increasingly powerful AI technologies.

Direct study in seminar: The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

"The struggle does not end today," was written on a banner held by one of the 25,000 women who rallied in downtown Reykjavík on the 24th of October 1975. The Women's Day Off, as the organizers ironically called it, was essentially a strike to protest gender-based discrimination and wage differentials. The banner mentioned above is only one example of many of how the women communicated their views and demands through different media such as music, print, public speeches, and mass media. The Women's Day Off was the result of a collective agency of Icelandic actors, but their initiative should still be regarded in an international context as the women were urged to unite under the theme of the International Women's Year: "EQUALITY - DEVELOPMENT - PEACE. "

The course is built around the Women's Day Off in 1975, but as teachers and students research its historical legacy in Icelandic and international context, they will explore and implement new ways of communicating history with younger generations. The course is organized in collaboration with Rúv and The Women's History Archives, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an exhibition at the National Library.

The seminar will be dedicated to a thorough reading and discussion of several of Merleau-Ponty’s key texts. His emphasis on perception, embodiment, intertwining and responsiveness will be studied in a phenomenological context. Attention will also be paid to his philosophy of art and nature. Finally, his works will be assessed and discussed in light of contemporary engagements with them.

Direct study in seminar: Body, intertwining, responsiveness: Aspects of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

A survey of Icelandic handwriting in the period and of methods of transcription. Students learn to read different kinds of handwriting from the period.

The focus of this course is the application of ethics to pressing problems and debates in contemporary society. Possible methods for solving ethical dilemmas, both on an individual and social basis, are discussed. The selection of topics may change from year to year, but possible topics include free speech, the status of refugees, animal rights, poverty and economic inequality, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, environmental issues, and various issues in health care. The relation between theoretical and applied ethics is discussed. While instruction includes lectures, student participation in discussion is greatly emphasized.

This course covers the role of public archives and archiving and record management in the past and present. The importance of the principle of provenance for archives and history. A summary of the history of administration. The activities and legal environment of public archives in Iceland will be discussed and their role in records management in public administration. What organizations are obliged to transfer their records to public archives. The evolution of archiving and records management in the 20th and 21st centuries will be examined. Methods of records managements, old and new. The sorting and cataloguing of archives.

The current surge of nationalist, populist right-wing parties and authoritarian regimes not only poses a challenge to traditional political elites and to the functioning of liberal-democratic systems. It also invites comparisons with historical fascism and authoritarian rule in the interwar period, raising the question of how to define, classify, and position these parties, regimes, and ideologies on the political spectrum. The course deals with crises of the liberal order and the effects of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries by focusing on historical fascism and Nazism as well as contemporary populist and authoritarian formations. While the focus will be on Europe, ultra-nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies in other parts of the world will also be considered. The emphasis will be on historiographical and theoretical problems relating to the ideologies of fascism, authoritarianism, and populism; the effects of economic and political crises on the rise of radical nationalist movements; the roles of race, ethnicity, and gender; ideas about modernization, culture, welfare and racism, and foreign policy platforms. Populist and authoritarian regimes in the present will be put in a historical context, their programs and policies explored, and an attempt will be made to explain what has been termed “populist authoritarianism.”

An individual project on the ethics of nature.

This seminar engages with theories on culture, narrative, and mediation. Active class participation is required.

Conventional sociological or historical accounts tend to portray human life as if objects either are irrelevant or at best, passive and inert. This course follows the ‘material turn’ that has occurred in the social sciences and the humanities in the past 20 years and explores the importance of things for understanding human society and history. Drawing on examples from a wide range of disciplines from design history to archaeology, each week a different object is taken for study, illustrating the various disciplinary and theoretical approaches that have been taken to material culture in recent years. The course will be organized around weekly lectures, reading and discussion. The course will be taught in english.

The course deals with the connection between Man and Nature from the viewpoint of Moral Philosophy. It discusses the main proponents of and theories within Environmental Ethics and describes the roots of differing views of Nature, as well as different ethical orientations, i.e. anthropocentric, ecocentric, and biocentric positions. The course also deals with the integration of environmental and developmental issues, and with the connection between environmentalism and democracy. Amongst central issues discussed are the following: Can Ethics provide guidance in the solution of environmental problems?, What type of beings are worthy of moral considerability?, Can natural phenomena possess intrinsic value?, Do animals have rights?, Is there any fundanmental difference in men's and women's relations to Nature?, and, What is the ethical basis of sustainable development?

Historical and historiographical survey of major topics in the history of the medieval North, with special emphasis on Iceland and Norway from the Viking Age into the fourteenth century. Topics include: power, kingship and state; law and feud; kinship, gender and social ties; religious and mental outlook(s); conversion, Christianity and church; economic conditions. Prior knowledge of the “factual” narrative is helpful but not necessary. Reading ability in German and/or the modern Scandinavian languages is also helpful but, again, not necessary (all mandatory readings are in English). Students produce a paper and lead discussion; no final exam.

The course is intended for postgraduate students only. It is adapted to the needs of students from different fields of study. The course is taught over a six-week period.

The course is taught over the first six weeks of spring semester on Fridays from 1:20 pm - 3:40 pm.

Description: 
The topics of the course include: Professionalism and the scientist’s responsibilities. Demands for scientific objectivity and the ethics of research. Issues of equality and standards of good practice. Power and science. Conflicts of interest and misconduct in research. Science, academia and industry. Research ethics and ethical decision making.

Objectives: 
In this course, the student gains knowledge about ethical issues in science and research and is trained in reasoning about ethical controversies relating to science and research in contemporary society.

The instruction takes the form of lectures and discussion. The course is viewed as an academic community where students are actively engaged in a focused dialogue about  the topics. Each student (working as a member of a two-person team) gives a presentation according to a plan designed at the beginning of the course, and other students acquaint themselves with the topic as well for the purpose of participating in a teacher-led discussion.

This is a project that can be chosen as an addition to HSP806F Ethics of Science and Research and can only be taken along with that course.

This course is taught in Icelandic and is intended for graduate students and BA students in their final year. It presents the main theories of psychoanalysis in light of philosophy and literary and cultural studies. It also concentrates on the contribution of psychoanalysis to further our understanding of culture and cultural achievements such as literature and cinema. It is taught twice a week, students give presentations and write a final essay.

A discussion of some controversial issues in the field of bioethics, in particular those relating to developments in genetics and their possible effects upon medical services and health care policy.

The course deals with interconnections between political radicalism, culture, tradition and power. We will focus on contemporary representations of dissent in particular, look at the discourse of democracy and cultural difference, reactions to and criticism of protest in the Western political tradition and dissent in more repressive political systems. The role of intellectuals and writers will be explored as well as the function of artistic expression and design in transforming cultural and social environments. We will also discuss media and social media discourse in connection with an attempt to understand the various and sometimes contradictory objectives of public institutions. A few points of conflict will be discussed that to some extent expose fundamental conflicts in liberal democratic societies such as questions about the wisdom and ignorance of publics, reactions to climate change, inequality and extreme poverty. Finally corruption and power will be discussed as well as social and cultural expression, the possibilities and limitations of freedom of speech, the use and abuse of information, disinformation, secrecy, fake and “fake news”.

In the course Communication channels II during the spring semester the students work with the following communication methods: a) oral presentation and b) exhibitions of cultural and historical material. Digital communication will be integrated into both aspects.

The students will work with the basics of oral presentation and practice in smaller and larger groups. Basic issues regarding the organization of conferences and seminars and their management will also be reviewed and a conference is held where all students present their projects. Digital communication will also be integrated into this section. Following is a section about exhibitions with connection to digital communication. The basics of exhibitions and different ways of presentation will be discussed.  The basics of digital communication will be covered, what are the main channels, advantages and disadvantages, and what rules apply to the presentation of texts on the web.

There are no exams in the course. Instead, students work on projects, individual and group projects. They are the following:

1. Lecture at a conference and other projects in that context
2. Exhibition analysis and a practical project in connection with exhibitions organized by the City History Museum (Borgarsögusafn)
3. Digital communication will be integrated into both aspects. Emphasis is placed on common themes and group work in the course.

The course is not taught remotely.

The course offers an in-depth study of the Icelandic 18^th Century household. What different types of households were there and what was the difference between the households of peasants, fishermen, pastors, lodgers or paupers? How did young people move out of their parents’ households and start their own? How did households provide for their members and what additional expenses such as rent, taxes and dues did they need to pay? How did subsistence farming work and did the households engage in any trading? The course introduces the rich sources of the time period to students, which provide us with insights into daily life in the period, from the census of 1703 to travel journals and magazine articles of Enlightment writers of the late 18^th century. Among other exercises, students practice methods of digital data entry for quantitative study.

"Echoes of a Global Medieval Ages in Contemporary History" is a course that explores the intersection of medieval and contemporary eras, considering how memories, symbols, and narratives from the medieval world continue to shape current ideologies, identities, and global perspectives. Through a thematic, regional examination, the course analyzes how different societies today reinterpret and reconstruct their medieval pasts, addressing legacies of imperialism, nationalism, and cultural exchange. Key topics include the influence of medieval governance, cultural symbols, trade networks, and ideological conflicts on contemporary issues.

This course examines the status of women in Iceland during the long nineteenth century. The aim is to explore sources that shed light on women's circumstances, opportunities, and agency, both in rural areas and villages. The period will be examined both thematically and chronologically, exploring and analysing changes in women's status and agency. The course will explore what legal rights women had – were they autonomous? Could they travel abroad for education or travel at all? Could they marry whom they wanted? Run their own business? What kind of clothes did they wear? What work did they do inside and outside of the home? The status of women in Iceland will be examined in a transnational context, both concerning legal rights and agency, as well as in relation to major theoretical frameworks about women's history in the nineteenth century (e.g., separate spheres). The period spans from the late eighteenth century, from which time sources such as private letters and biographical texts are preserved, to c. 1900 when the struggle for women's rights had begun in Iceland and new times were ahead. The course will delve into memoirs, funeral speeches, and correspondence along with other sources and scholarly works about the period to get as close as possible to women's experiences and attitudes.

In the seminar we will consider contemporary philosophers who maintain that human beings are not beings whose ethical siginficance is a function of the ethical significance of some given set of attributes or capacities or interests they happen to possess. One way of phrasing this insight is to say that human beings are all inside ethics simply in virtue of being human. We will consider whether the same arguments apply to some non-human animals. We will read Alice Crary’s book Inside Ethics (Harvard Univeristy Press, 2016) and selected essays by Cora Diamond and Simone Weil, among others.

Direct study in seminar: Inside and outside ethics. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

The course will introduce three main traditions of medieval philosophy (Arabic, Jewish and Latin), their origin and background, their contributions and their interconnections. Readings will consist in representative texts by philosophers of the three traditions. The first part of the course will provide context and overview, while in the second part, students will give an in-class presentation of a selected text that they contextualise, analyse and evaluate.

Direct study in seminar: Western, Islamic and Jewish philosophy in the Middle Ages. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

Students learn and are trained in the methods of archival research, finding and evaluating sources in archives.  Practical exercises will be assigned.

Overview of the history of the Viking age and history of Viking research. Emphasis is placed on the archaeological evidence, the sites and the objects, and discussing how archaeological data has contributed to our understanding of this period. Particular attention is given to economic patterns, issues of ethnicity and state formation.

In the course, well-known historical studies from Western culture will be read that deal with a variety of topics. An attempt will be made to show how historians, both at the end of the twentieth century and at the beginning of the twenty-first century, struggle with different topics in their research. The discussion will be put into an ideological context and emphasis will be placed on showing the different approaches of historians when the subject has been connected to the aforementioned field of study. An attempt was made to select interesting books that are likely to give us an interesting picture of the state of the arts of history today.

In the courses Communication channels I and Communication channels II, the basics of methods for the dissemination of cultural material in the humanities and social sciences are presented. Communication channels I is in the fall semester, while Communication channels II is in the spring semester. 

In Communication channels I, the students are working with a) text and images in the first half of the semester and b) short documentaries in the second half of the course. Each subject weighs 50% in the course. Concerning a) Students will receive training in article writing and discourse analysis on the one hand and use of images and image analysis on the other.  Concerning b) Students work on making short documentaries. It includes basic training in screenwriting, shooting and editing, and students work in groups on a documentary, according to a specific theme. 

There are no exams in the course. Instead, students work on projects, individual and group projects. They are the following:

1. Analysis of texts and images
2. An article with an image on a specific theme for publication, about 800 words.
3. A group project where students work on a short documentary that is shown at the end of the course. Emphasis is placed on common themes and group work in the course. The course is not taught remotely.

This course provides an introduction to contemporary issues in the social epistemology of science. On the one hand, we will address questions about the relationship between science and values: do ethical, political, and social values play a legitimate role in scientific research? Or do they endanger the objectivity of science, so their influence should be eliminated or curtailed? On the other hand, we will discuss questions about the nature of group knowledge: can groups or communities know more than what the individuals within them do? Or does the knowledge of a group reduce to individual knowledge? In a society where science produces both technological goods and wields political power, this course aims to equip students with tools for thinking critically about science in society, values in science, and the social nature of scientific research by drawing on the growing field of social epistemology of science.

Direct study in seminar: The social side of science. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

What is artificial intelligence (AI), and how – if at all – does it differ from ordinary (human) intelligence? Are there any inherent limitations to AI, or could AI systems one day become superior to human agents in every way that matters? What ethical problems arise from the ever-growing use of AI, and from the possibility of creating entirely autonomous AI systems? And what role does and will AI play in the progress of science, in philosophical research, and other types of systematic inquiry? This seminar explores philosophical questions of this sort, raised by the emergence of increasingly powerful AI technologies.

Direct study in seminar: The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

"The struggle does not end today," was written on a banner held by one of the 25,000 women who rallied in downtown Reykjavík on the 24th of October 1975. The Women's Day Off, as the organizers ironically called it, was essentially a strike to protest gender-based discrimination and wage differentials. The banner mentioned above is only one example of many of how the women communicated their views and demands through different media such as music, print, public speeches, and mass media. The Women's Day Off was the result of a collective agency of Icelandic actors, but their initiative should still be regarded in an international context as the women were urged to unite under the theme of the International Women's Year: "EQUALITY - DEVELOPMENT - PEACE. "

The course is built around the Women's Day Off in 1975, but as teachers and students research its historical legacy in Icelandic and international context, they will explore and implement new ways of communicating history with younger generations. The course is organized in collaboration with Rúv and The Women's History Archives, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary with an exhibition at the National Library.

The seminar will be dedicated to a thorough reading and discussion of several of Merleau-Ponty’s key texts. His emphasis on perception, embodiment, intertwining and responsiveness will be studied in a phenomenological context. Attention will also be paid to his philosophy of art and nature. Finally, his works will be assessed and discussed in light of contemporary engagements with them.

Direct study in seminar: Body, intertwining, responsiveness: Aspects of Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenology. Students must finish related seminar to finish the direct study.

A survey of Icelandic handwriting in the period and of methods of transcription. Students learn to read different kinds of handwriting from the period.

The focus of this course is the application of ethics to pressing problems and debates in contemporary society. Possible methods for solving ethical dilemmas, both on an individual and social basis, are discussed. The selection of topics may change from year to year, but possible topics include free speech, the status of refugees, animal rights, poverty and economic inequality, gender discrimination, racial discrimination, environmental issues, and various issues in health care. The relation between theoretical and applied ethics is discussed. While instruction includes lectures, student participation in discussion is greatly emphasized.

This course covers the role of public archives and archiving and record management in the past and present. The importance of the principle of provenance for archives and history. A summary of the history of administration. The activities and legal environment of public archives in Iceland will be discussed and their role in records management in public administration. What organizations are obliged to transfer their records to public archives. The evolution of archiving and records management in the 20th and 21st centuries will be examined. Methods of records managements, old and new. The sorting and cataloguing of archives.

The current surge of nationalist, populist right-wing parties and authoritarian regimes not only poses a challenge to traditional political elites and to the functioning of liberal-democratic systems. It also invites comparisons with historical fascism and authoritarian rule in the interwar period, raising the question of how to define, classify, and position these parties, regimes, and ideologies on the political spectrum. The course deals with crises of the liberal order and the effects of ultra-nationalism in Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries by focusing on historical fascism and Nazism as well as contemporary populist and authoritarian formations. While the focus will be on Europe, ultra-nationalist and anti-liberal ideologies in other parts of the world will also be considered. The emphasis will be on historiographical and theoretical problems relating to the ideologies of fascism, authoritarianism, and populism; the effects of economic and political crises on the rise of radical nationalist movements; the roles of race, ethnicity, and gender; ideas about modernization, culture, welfare and racism, and foreign policy platforms. Populist and authoritarian regimes in the present will be put in a historical context, their programs and policies explored, and an attempt will be made to explain what has been termed “populist authoritarianism.”

An individual project on the ethics of nature.

This seminar engages with theories on culture, narrative, and mediation. Active class participation is required.

Conventional sociological or historical accounts tend to portray human life as if objects either are irrelevant or at best, passive and inert. This course follows the ‘material turn’ that has occurred in the social sciences and the humanities in the past 20 years and explores the importance of things for understanding human society and history. Drawing on examples from a wide range of disciplines from design history to archaeology, each week a different object is taken for study, illustrating the various disciplinary and theoretical approaches that have been taken to material culture in recent years. The course will be organized around weekly lectures, reading and discussion. The course will be taught in english.

The course deals with the connection between Man and Nature from the viewpoint of Moral Philosophy. It discusses the main proponents of and theories within Environmental Ethics and describes the roots of differing views of Nature, as well as different ethical orientations, i.e. anthropocentric, ecocentric, and biocentric positions. The course also deals with the integration of environmental and developmental issues, and with the connection between environmentalism and democracy. Amongst central issues discussed are the following: Can Ethics provide guidance in the solution of environmental problems?, What type of beings are worthy of moral considerability?, Can natural phenomena possess intrinsic value?, Do animals have rights?, Is there any fundanmental difference in men's and women's relations to Nature?, and, What is the ethical basis of sustainable development?

Historical and historiographical survey of major topics in the history of the medieval North, with special emphasis on Iceland and Norway from the Viking Age into the fourteenth century. Topics include: power, kingship and state; law and feud; kinship, gender and social ties; religious and mental outlook(s); conversion, Christianity and church; economic conditions. Prior knowledge of the “factual” narrative is helpful but not necessary. Reading ability in German and/or the modern Scandinavian languages is also helpful but, again, not necessary (all mandatory readings are in English). Students produce a paper and lead discussion; no final exam.

Course description: Examples from the history of science and technology in Iceland are discussed in the light of national and international developments. Among the lecturers are experts in the natural sciences, technology and medical sciences. The students write a paper on a topic chosen in consultation with one or more of the teachers and give a short oral presentation.

Research Project for MA-thesis in collaboration with supervisor.

Final project.