This course discusses the question "What is Philosophy?" and the relationship of philosophy to science, art, religion and politics. We will read both classical and contemporary philosophy texts to study the different methods and problems of philosophy.

A survey of ancient philosophy, based upon a close reading of primary texts from the works of the Presocratics, Plato and Aristotle, and their Hellenistic successors. The primary aim is to offer an overview of the development of ancient philosophy. A secondary aim is to offer an insight into the importance of the history of philosophy for philosophy, and deepen the students' competence in reading philosophical works from the ancient world. At the completion of the course, the students should be acquainted with the main periods and individual thinkers of ancient philosophy, their views and arguments. They should be able to give an account of these views, support it with references to the primary sources, and compare the views of different philosophers. Further, they should have gained an insight into the importance of the history of philosophy for philosophy and the historical origins of classical philosophical problems.

The aim of this course is to show students the importance of critical thinking by introducing its main concepts and methods as well as different understandings of the notion. Furthermore, the aim is to train students in critical thinking and argumentation, both in a philosophical and an everyday context. Special emphasis will be placed on analysing arguments. The relationship between critical thinking and ethics will be thoroughly examined.

The teaching involves both lectures and discussion sessions. Assignments will primarily be aimed at practical tasks relevant to everyday experiences.

In this course, we discuss a few selected contemporary issues in the field of social and political philosophy. We will discuss and analyse key concepts of relevance for a good society, such as liberty, equality, justice and democracy with a special reference to Icelandic society. 

Students will be introduced to the basics of philosophical and formal logic. The course focuses on propositional logic (truth-functional logic) and quantified logic (first-order logic). Additionally, a brief survey of informal logic will be given at the beginning of the course, and philosophical questions concerning the nature and status of logic will be addressed toward the end of the course.

This course provides an overview of three principal moral theories: Aristotle's virtue ethics as presented in his Nichomachean Ethics, Kant's deontoloical ethics as presented in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and John Stuart Mill's rule ethics as presented in his Utilitarianism.

Description
A survey of Western philosophy in the 17th and 18th Centuries, with emphasis on selected topics in the epistomology and metaphysics of the period, based upon a close reading and comparison of primary texts. Descartes, Hume and Kant are the principal authors discussed.

Teaching
The teaching involves both lectures and discussions. Lectures will give an exposition of the subject and/or of its main topics. Discussions will adress more specific topics or questions.

The course aims to give a brief survey of selected topics in the philosophy of art; to introduce students to particular discussions, questions, theories and arguments in the philosophy of art through selected readings, both historical and contemporary; and to enable students to discuss topics related to aesthetics.

In this course, 19th and 20th century ideas that had fundamental effects on Western philosophy and intellectual history, will be examined. These are socially transformative ideas such as freedom, secularism, equality, resistance, the relation between the individual and society, ideas concerning existence and the soul, oppression, injustice, the national state and capitalism. Perhaps last but not least ideas about history, time and evolution of humanity and the planet. 

Each week a new thinker or idea that transformed Western intellectual history is introduced and engaged with. Thinkers such as G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Rosa Luxembourg and Emma Goldman are analysed and influential isms such as phenomenology, neoliberalism or postructuralism. The aim is to read these thinkers and isms in accordance with the zeitgeist of the historical period they belong to (to the extent that we, people in the 21st century can “read” zeitgeists of older periods). At the same time the aim is to dig deep into original texts and to acquire multi-dimensional understanding of the ideas. Important part of the course is also to look at these themes in relation to the present times and the issues happening at the moment in Western societies and all around the globe. 

This course offers an introduction into main approaches and topics of feminist philosophy and philosophy of diversity. The status of women philosophers in the history of philosophy as well as critical discussions about canons of Western philosophy will be discussed.

Feminist and diversity philosophy shed a critical light on malecentrism in traditional ideas about practical rationality, the epistemic knower and ideas about the self. The goal of this criticism is to uncover resources for rethinking basic concepts of philosophy so that they yield a richer understanding and better reflect the diverse reality out of which they emerge.

Providing an overview of the main streams of thought in classical Indian, Chinese and Japanese philosophy, this course starts off with the philosophical ideas originating in ancient India that laid a foundation for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. We shall then move to the East Asian cultural sphere and discuss Confucianism and Daoism as well as the unusual versions of Buddhism emerging from their influence. The primary aim is to explicate the main ideas and notions making up these traditions, in part by making comparisons with Western philosophy, but also by taking note of their religious manifestations.

Instructor: Geir Sigurðsson, Professor of Chinese Studies and Transcultural Philosophy

In this course we will discuss and ask about the nature of knowledge and tackle problems that relate to knowledge. Why is knowledge important? Is understanding more important than knowledge? What is the difference between knowledge and true belief? What kind of justification is needed to change true belief into knowledge? Is is possible to investigate knowledge like digestion, i.e. with the methods of the natural sciences, or can we only approach it from within, i.e. by investigating our own consciousness? Can we trust the opinions of others? What conditions must be met to do people justice, irrespective of sex, race, age, gender etc? We will mainly read texts from the 20th and 21st century and use the methods of analytic philosophy in reading and analysing philosophical texts.

This course studies select philosophical texts. This time we will read the Laws Plato. The Laws are Plato’s longest dialogue as well as his last. It discusses political philosophy albeit in a different spirit from that of Plato’s older dialogue the Republic. In this course we will shed light on the political philosophy contained in the Laws and seek to place it in a wider Platonic context.

Knowledge of Greek and Latin is not required, but students of Classics may choose to work on a supervised independent study project (5 ECTS or 10 ECTS) centered on an original text in connection to the course. The supervised independent study projects which are available to students with reading knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin are intended to strengthen their proficiency in Ancient Greek and/or Latin and train them in the reading of original texts.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is an introduction to Classical Studies. It will deal with the history of the discipline as well as its subject matter and methods: Students will be introduced to classical philology and the various branches of Classical Studies, such as the history, literature, and philosophy of classical antiquity. The course will, moreover, address issues concerning the use of sources, methodology, and conventions in Classics. Students will be introduced to major resources. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

Obstinance, pride and treachery can have disastrous consequences, nevermind matricide, patricide and incest. Sometimes it almost seems like fate is in charge and fate can be very ironic. All of this is quite familiar from Greek tragedy.

This course introduces the student to Greek tragedy as a genre. Students will read a number of Greek tragedies in (Icelandic) translation and will become familiar with both the form and content of Greek tragedies. Various aspects of the genre will be discussed, including interactions of mortals and immortals in Greek tragedy, fate and responsibility, gender issues, Greek self-identity and respresentation of the foreign.

Knowledge of Ancient Greek is not required, but students who are able to read Greek will be asked to submit a translation assignment.

The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context. The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context.

The course is organized around three basic topics: (i) The human being as a rational, sentient and ethical being, (i) the aims of education and (iii) freedom and democracy. Among the philosophers and educational theorists discussed in the course are Plato, Rousseau, Kant, Dewey, Key, Neill and Freire.

The subjects of the course are fourfold. Firstly, Pierre Hadot's ideas about Hellenistic philosophy as a way of life will be examined (Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 1995). Secondly, reference will be made to several philosophers of the nineteenth century (e.g. Nietzsche, Emerson, Thoreau) who emphasize philosophy as a way of life. Thirdly, examples will be taken of how philosophical works that seem on the surface to have little to do with the way of life appear in a new light when they are examined from this perspective. Fourthly, we will examine the importance of diaries and biographical writing to philosophy as a way of life.

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.

Philosophy essentially involves an examination of human existence in the world, and human perception of the world. In the 20th century, continental Europe saw the emergence of a host of thinkers who enganged with existence and perception in a profound way, producing a plethora of classic works that differ significantly in terms of size and content. This course sets out to provide an insight into the theoretical outlook of existentialism and phenomenology through a thorough reading of key texts by authors such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus. Among the issues addressed are meaning and purpose, consciousness and its objects, philosophy and science, sex and gender, and mind and body.

In this course, some of the main themes in contemporary political philosophy will be discussed. Special emphasis will be laid on the egalitarian liberalism of John Rawls and that criticized from the perspectives of libertarianism, communitarianism, feminism, discourse democratic theory and post-structuralism.

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.

This course is dedicated to various issues in contemporary metaphysics as well as the history of metaphysics in the 20th and 21st centuries. Likely topics covered include personal identity; free will; realism, anti-realism, and nominalism; natural kinds and fictional characters; possible worlds; the relation between language and world; and the relation between mind and body.

This course will focus on several select themes in the history of ideas in antiquity, including love and friendship, freedom and servitude, happiness, the divine, justice and society, death and the afterlife. Ideas of both Greeks and Romans from the archaic to the classical period will be discussed. Texts will include ancient literature in translation. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

The course is a continuation of LAT101G Latin I. Students will read a selection of Latin texts by various authors.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is a continuation of KLM102G Ancient Greek I. The first part of the course resumes coverage of grammar and syntax of Ancient Greek (Attic) where Ancient Greek I left off. During the second half of the course, students will read a selection of Ancient Greek texts by different authors from various periods.

Students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

In this course we will read selections from medieval literature broadly conceived (from the end og the 4th century to the beginning of the 16th century): poetry and historiography, philosophy and theology. Texts will be analysed grammatically and discussed materially as needed.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, but students whose native language is not Icelandic may complete assignments and exams in English.

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”.

The course aims to give a brief survey of selected topics in the philosophy of art; to introduce students to particular discussions, questions, theories and arguments in the philosophy of art through selected readings, both historical and contemporary; and to enable students to discuss topics related to aesthetics.

In this course, 19th and 20th century ideas that had fundamental effects on Western philosophy and intellectual history, will be examined. These are socially transformative ideas such as freedom, secularism, equality, resistance, the relation between the individual and society, ideas concerning existence and the soul, oppression, injustice, the national state and capitalism. Perhaps last but not least ideas about history, time and evolution of humanity and the planet. 

Each week a new thinker or idea that transformed Western intellectual history is introduced and engaged with. Thinkers such as G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Rosa Luxembourg and Emma Goldman are analysed and influential isms such as phenomenology, neoliberalism or postructuralism. The aim is to read these thinkers and isms in accordance with the zeitgeist of the historical period they belong to (to the extent that we, people in the 21st century can “read” zeitgeists of older periods). At the same time the aim is to dig deep into original texts and to acquire multi-dimensional understanding of the ideas. Important part of the course is also to look at these themes in relation to the present times and the issues happening at the moment in Western societies and all around the globe. 

This course offers an introduction into main approaches and topics of feminist philosophy and philosophy of diversity. The status of women philosophers in the history of philosophy as well as critical discussions about canons of Western philosophy will be discussed.

Feminist and diversity philosophy shed a critical light on malecentrism in traditional ideas about practical rationality, the epistemic knower and ideas about the self. The goal of this criticism is to uncover resources for rethinking basic concepts of philosophy so that they yield a richer understanding and better reflect the diverse reality out of which they emerge.

Providing an overview of the main streams of thought in classical Indian, Chinese and Japanese philosophy, this course starts off with the philosophical ideas originating in ancient India that laid a foundation for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. We shall then move to the East Asian cultural sphere and discuss Confucianism and Daoism as well as the unusual versions of Buddhism emerging from their influence. The primary aim is to explicate the main ideas and notions making up these traditions, in part by making comparisons with Western philosophy, but also by taking note of their religious manifestations.

Instructor: Geir Sigurðsson, Professor of Chinese Studies and Transcultural Philosophy

This course studies select philosophical texts. This time we will read the Laws Plato. The Laws are Plato’s longest dialogue as well as his last. It discusses political philosophy albeit in a different spirit from that of Plato’s older dialogue the Republic. In this course we will shed light on the political philosophy contained in the Laws and seek to place it in a wider Platonic context.

Knowledge of Greek and Latin is not required, but students of Classics may choose to work on a supervised independent study project (5 ECTS or 10 ECTS) centered on an original text in connection to the course. The supervised independent study projects which are available to students with reading knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin are intended to strengthen their proficiency in Ancient Greek and/or Latin and train them in the reading of original texts.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is an introduction to Classical Studies. It will deal with the history of the discipline as well as its subject matter and methods: Students will be introduced to classical philology and the various branches of Classical Studies, such as the history, literature, and philosophy of classical antiquity. The course will, moreover, address issues concerning the use of sources, methodology, and conventions in Classics. Students will be introduced to major resources. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

Obstinance, pride and treachery can have disastrous consequences, nevermind matricide, patricide and incest. Sometimes it almost seems like fate is in charge and fate can be very ironic. All of this is quite familiar from Greek tragedy.

This course introduces the student to Greek tragedy as a genre. Students will read a number of Greek tragedies in (Icelandic) translation and will become familiar with both the form and content of Greek tragedies. Various aspects of the genre will be discussed, including interactions of mortals and immortals in Greek tragedy, fate and responsibility, gender issues, Greek self-identity and respresentation of the foreign.

Knowledge of Ancient Greek is not required, but students who are able to read Greek will be asked to submit a translation assignment.

The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context. The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context.

The course is organized around three basic topics: (i) The human being as a rational, sentient and ethical being, (i) the aims of education and (iii) freedom and democracy. Among the philosophers and educational theorists discussed in the course are Plato, Rousseau, Kant, Dewey, Key, Neill and Freire.

An individual project on the ethics of nature.

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.

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.

The BA dissertation in philosophy is intended to develop the student's ability to examine a chosen philosophical subject or work and to write about it in accepted scholarly fashion. The dissertation is written under the supervision of a member of the regular philosophy teaching staff. Students apply electronically for a supervisor, using a specific form. Further information on the BA dissertation in philosophy is available on the website of the Faculty of History and Philosophy.

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?

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.

The subjects of the course are fourfold. Firstly, Pierre Hadot's ideas about Hellenistic philosophy as a way of life will be examined (Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 1995). Secondly, reference will be made to several philosophers of the nineteenth century (e.g. Nietzsche, Emerson, Thoreau) who emphasize philosophy as a way of life. Thirdly, examples will be taken of how philosophical works that seem on the surface to have little to do with the way of life appear in a new light when they are examined from this perspective. Fourthly, we will examine the importance of diaries and biographical writing to philosophy as a way of life.

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.

Philosophy essentially involves an examination of human existence in the world, and human perception of the world. In the 20th century, continental Europe saw the emergence of a host of thinkers who enganged with existence and perception in a profound way, producing a plethora of classic works that differ significantly in terms of size and content. This course sets out to provide an insight into the theoretical outlook of existentialism and phenomenology through a thorough reading of key texts by authors such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus. Among the issues addressed are meaning and purpose, consciousness and its objects, philosophy and science, sex and gender, and mind and body.

In this course, some of the main themes in contemporary political philosophy will be discussed. Special emphasis will be laid on the egalitarian liberalism of John Rawls and that criticized from the perspectives of libertarianism, communitarianism, feminism, discourse democratic theory and post-structuralism.

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.

This course will focus on several select themes in the history of ideas in antiquity, including love and friendship, freedom and servitude, happiness, the divine, justice and society, death and the afterlife. Ideas of both Greeks and Romans from the archaic to the classical period will be discussed. Texts will include ancient literature in translation. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

The course is a continuation of LAT101G Latin I. Students will read a selection of Latin texts by various authors.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is a continuation of KLM102G Ancient Greek I. The first part of the course resumes coverage of grammar and syntax of Ancient Greek (Attic) where Ancient Greek I left off. During the second half of the course, students will read a selection of Ancient Greek texts by different authors from various periods.

Students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

In this course we will read selections from medieval literature broadly conceived (from the end og the 4th century to the beginning of the 16th century): poetry and historiography, philosophy and theology. Texts will be analysed grammatically and discussed materially as needed.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, but students whose native language is not Icelandic may complete assignments and exams in English.

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”.

The BA dissertation in philosophy is intended to develop the student's ability to examine a chosen philosophical subject or work and to write about it in accepted scholarly fashion. The dissertation is written under the supervision of a member of the regular philosophy teaching staff. Students apply electronically for a supervisor, using a specific form. Further information on the BA dissertation in philosophy is available on the website of the Faculty of Philosophy, History, and Archaeology.

This course discusses the question "What is Philosophy?" and the relationship of philosophy to science, art, religion and politics. We will read both classical and contemporary philosophy texts to study the different methods and problems of philosophy.

A survey of ancient philosophy, based upon a close reading of primary texts from the works of the Presocratics, Plato and Aristotle, and their Hellenistic successors. The primary aim is to offer an overview of the development of ancient philosophy. A secondary aim is to offer an insight into the importance of the history of philosophy for philosophy, and deepen the students' competence in reading philosophical works from the ancient world. At the completion of the course, the students should be acquainted with the main periods and individual thinkers of ancient philosophy, their views and arguments. They should be able to give an account of these views, support it with references to the primary sources, and compare the views of different philosophers. Further, they should have gained an insight into the importance of the history of philosophy for philosophy and the historical origins of classical philosophical problems.

The aim of this course is to show students the importance of critical thinking by introducing its main concepts and methods as well as different understandings of the notion. Furthermore, the aim is to train students in critical thinking and argumentation, both in a philosophical and an everyday context. Special emphasis will be placed on analysing arguments. The relationship between critical thinking and ethics will be thoroughly examined.

The teaching involves both lectures and discussion sessions. Assignments will primarily be aimed at practical tasks relevant to everyday experiences.

In this course, we discuss a few selected contemporary issues in the field of social and political philosophy. We will discuss and analyse key concepts of relevance for a good society, such as liberty, equality, justice and democracy with a special reference to Icelandic society. 

Students will be introduced to the basics of philosophical and formal logic. The course focuses on propositional logic (truth-functional logic) and quantified logic (first-order logic). Additionally, a brief survey of informal logic will be given at the beginning of the course, and philosophical questions concerning the nature and status of logic will be addressed toward the end of the course.

This course provides an overview of three principal moral theories: Aristotle's virtue ethics as presented in his Nichomachean Ethics, Kant's deontoloical ethics as presented in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and John Stuart Mill's rule ethics as presented in his Utilitarianism.

Description
A survey of Western philosophy in the 17th and 18th Centuries, with emphasis on selected topics in the epistomology and metaphysics of the period, based upon a close reading and comparison of primary texts. Descartes, Hume and Kant are the principal authors discussed.

Teaching
The teaching involves both lectures and discussions. Lectures will give an exposition of the subject and/or of its main topics. Discussions will adress more specific topics or questions.

The course aims to give a brief survey of selected topics in the philosophy of art; to introduce students to particular discussions, questions, theories and arguments in the philosophy of art through selected readings, both historical and contemporary; and to enable students to discuss topics related to aesthetics.

In this course, 19th and 20th century ideas that had fundamental effects on Western philosophy and intellectual history, will be examined. These are socially transformative ideas such as freedom, secularism, equality, resistance, the relation between the individual and society, ideas concerning existence and the soul, oppression, injustice, the national state and capitalism. Perhaps last but not least ideas about history, time and evolution of humanity and the planet. 

Each week a new thinker or idea that transformed Western intellectual history is introduced and engaged with. Thinkers such as G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Rosa Luxembourg and Emma Goldman are analysed and influential isms such as phenomenology, neoliberalism or postructuralism. The aim is to read these thinkers and isms in accordance with the zeitgeist of the historical period they belong to (to the extent that we, people in the 21st century can “read” zeitgeists of older periods). At the same time the aim is to dig deep into original texts and to acquire multi-dimensional understanding of the ideas. Important part of the course is also to look at these themes in relation to the present times and the issues happening at the moment in Western societies and all around the globe. 

This course offers an introduction into main approaches and topics of feminist philosophy and philosophy of diversity. The status of women philosophers in the history of philosophy as well as critical discussions about canons of Western philosophy will be discussed.

Feminist and diversity philosophy shed a critical light on malecentrism in traditional ideas about practical rationality, the epistemic knower and ideas about the self. The goal of this criticism is to uncover resources for rethinking basic concepts of philosophy so that they yield a richer understanding and better reflect the diverse reality out of which they emerge.

Providing an overview of the main streams of thought in classical Indian, Chinese and Japanese philosophy, this course starts off with the philosophical ideas originating in ancient India that laid a foundation for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. We shall then move to the East Asian cultural sphere and discuss Confucianism and Daoism as well as the unusual versions of Buddhism emerging from their influence. The primary aim is to explicate the main ideas and notions making up these traditions, in part by making comparisons with Western philosophy, but also by taking note of their religious manifestations.

Instructor: Geir Sigurðsson, Professor of Chinese Studies and Transcultural Philosophy

In this course we will discuss and ask about the nature of knowledge and tackle problems that relate to knowledge. Why is knowledge important? Is understanding more important than knowledge? What is the difference between knowledge and true belief? What kind of justification is needed to change true belief into knowledge? Is is possible to investigate knowledge like digestion, i.e. with the methods of the natural sciences, or can we only approach it from within, i.e. by investigating our own consciousness? Can we trust the opinions of others? What conditions must be met to do people justice, irrespective of sex, race, age, gender etc? We will mainly read texts from the 20th and 21st century and use the methods of analytic philosophy in reading and analysing philosophical texts.

This course studies select philosophical texts. This time we will read the Laws Plato. The Laws are Plato’s longest dialogue as well as his last. It discusses political philosophy albeit in a different spirit from that of Plato’s older dialogue the Republic. In this course we will shed light on the political philosophy contained in the Laws and seek to place it in a wider Platonic context.

Knowledge of Greek and Latin is not required, but students of Classics may choose to work on a supervised independent study project (5 ECTS or 10 ECTS) centered on an original text in connection to the course. The supervised independent study projects which are available to students with reading knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin are intended to strengthen their proficiency in Ancient Greek and/or Latin and train them in the reading of original texts.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is an introduction to Classical Studies. It will deal with the history of the discipline as well as its subject matter and methods: Students will be introduced to classical philology and the various branches of Classical Studies, such as the history, literature, and philosophy of classical antiquity. The course will, moreover, address issues concerning the use of sources, methodology, and conventions in Classics. Students will be introduced to major resources. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

Obstinance, pride and treachery can have disastrous consequences, nevermind matricide, patricide and incest. Sometimes it almost seems like fate is in charge and fate can be very ironic. All of this is quite familiar from Greek tragedy.

This course introduces the student to Greek tragedy as a genre. Students will read a number of Greek tragedies in (Icelandic) translation and will become familiar with both the form and content of Greek tragedies. Various aspects of the genre will be discussed, including interactions of mortals and immortals in Greek tragedy, fate and responsibility, gender issues, Greek self-identity and respresentation of the foreign.

Knowledge of Ancient Greek is not required, but students who are able to read Greek will be asked to submit a translation assignment.

The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context. The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context.

The course is organized around three basic topics: (i) The human being as a rational, sentient and ethical being, (i) the aims of education and (iii) freedom and democracy. Among the philosophers and educational theorists discussed in the course are Plato, Rousseau, Kant, Dewey, Key, Neill and Freire.

The subjects of the course are fourfold. Firstly, Pierre Hadot's ideas about Hellenistic philosophy as a way of life will be examined (Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 1995). Secondly, reference will be made to several philosophers of the nineteenth century (e.g. Nietzsche, Emerson, Thoreau) who emphasize philosophy as a way of life. Thirdly, examples will be taken of how philosophical works that seem on the surface to have little to do with the way of life appear in a new light when they are examined from this perspective. Fourthly, we will examine the importance of diaries and biographical writing to philosophy as a way of life.

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.

Philosophy essentially involves an examination of human existence in the world, and human perception of the world. In the 20th century, continental Europe saw the emergence of a host of thinkers who enganged with existence and perception in a profound way, producing a plethora of classic works that differ significantly in terms of size and content. This course sets out to provide an insight into the theoretical outlook of existentialism and phenomenology through a thorough reading of key texts by authors such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus. Among the issues addressed are meaning and purpose, consciousness and its objects, philosophy and science, sex and gender, and mind and body.

In this course, some of the main themes in contemporary political philosophy will be discussed. Special emphasis will be laid on the egalitarian liberalism of John Rawls and that criticized from the perspectives of libertarianism, communitarianism, feminism, discourse democratic theory and post-structuralism.

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.

This course is dedicated to various issues in contemporary metaphysics as well as the history of metaphysics in the 20th and 21st centuries. Likely topics covered include personal identity; free will; realism, anti-realism, and nominalism; natural kinds and fictional characters; possible worlds; the relation between language and world; and the relation between mind and body.

This course will focus on several select themes in the history of ideas in antiquity, including love and friendship, freedom and servitude, happiness, the divine, justice and society, death and the afterlife. Ideas of both Greeks and Romans from the archaic to the classical period will be discussed. Texts will include ancient literature in translation. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

The course is a continuation of LAT101G Latin I. Students will read a selection of Latin texts by various authors.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is a continuation of KLM102G Ancient Greek I. The first part of the course resumes coverage of grammar and syntax of Ancient Greek (Attic) where Ancient Greek I left off. During the second half of the course, students will read a selection of Ancient Greek texts by different authors from various periods.

Students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

In this course we will read selections from medieval literature broadly conceived (from the end og the 4th century to the beginning of the 16th century): poetry and historiography, philosophy and theology. Texts will be analysed grammatically and discussed materially as needed.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, but students whose native language is not Icelandic may complete assignments and exams in English.

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”.

The course aims to give a brief survey of selected topics in the philosophy of art; to introduce students to particular discussions, questions, theories and arguments in the philosophy of art through selected readings, both historical and contemporary; and to enable students to discuss topics related to aesthetics.

In this course, 19th and 20th century ideas that had fundamental effects on Western philosophy and intellectual history, will be examined. These are socially transformative ideas such as freedom, secularism, equality, resistance, the relation between the individual and society, ideas concerning existence and the soul, oppression, injustice, the national state and capitalism. Perhaps last but not least ideas about history, time and evolution of humanity and the planet. 

Each week a new thinker or idea that transformed Western intellectual history is introduced and engaged with. Thinkers such as G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Rosa Luxembourg and Emma Goldman are analysed and influential isms such as phenomenology, neoliberalism or postructuralism. The aim is to read these thinkers and isms in accordance with the zeitgeist of the historical period they belong to (to the extent that we, people in the 21st century can “read” zeitgeists of older periods). At the same time the aim is to dig deep into original texts and to acquire multi-dimensional understanding of the ideas. Important part of the course is also to look at these themes in relation to the present times and the issues happening at the moment in Western societies and all around the globe. 

This course offers an introduction into main approaches and topics of feminist philosophy and philosophy of diversity. The status of women philosophers in the history of philosophy as well as critical discussions about canons of Western philosophy will be discussed.

Feminist and diversity philosophy shed a critical light on malecentrism in traditional ideas about practical rationality, the epistemic knower and ideas about the self. The goal of this criticism is to uncover resources for rethinking basic concepts of philosophy so that they yield a richer understanding and better reflect the diverse reality out of which they emerge.

Providing an overview of the main streams of thought in classical Indian, Chinese and Japanese philosophy, this course starts off with the philosophical ideas originating in ancient India that laid a foundation for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. We shall then move to the East Asian cultural sphere and discuss Confucianism and Daoism as well as the unusual versions of Buddhism emerging from their influence. The primary aim is to explicate the main ideas and notions making up these traditions, in part by making comparisons with Western philosophy, but also by taking note of their religious manifestations.

Instructor: Geir Sigurðsson, Professor of Chinese Studies and Transcultural Philosophy

This course studies select philosophical texts. This time we will read the Laws Plato. The Laws are Plato’s longest dialogue as well as his last. It discusses political philosophy albeit in a different spirit from that of Plato’s older dialogue the Republic. In this course we will shed light on the political philosophy contained in the Laws and seek to place it in a wider Platonic context.

Knowledge of Greek and Latin is not required, but students of Classics may choose to work on a supervised independent study project (5 ECTS or 10 ECTS) centered on an original text in connection to the course. The supervised independent study projects which are available to students with reading knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin are intended to strengthen their proficiency in Ancient Greek and/or Latin and train them in the reading of original texts.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is an introduction to Classical Studies. It will deal with the history of the discipline as well as its subject matter and methods: Students will be introduced to classical philology and the various branches of Classical Studies, such as the history, literature, and philosophy of classical antiquity. The course will, moreover, address issues concerning the use of sources, methodology, and conventions in Classics. Students will be introduced to major resources. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

Obstinance, pride and treachery can have disastrous consequences, nevermind matricide, patricide and incest. Sometimes it almost seems like fate is in charge and fate can be very ironic. All of this is quite familiar from Greek tragedy.

This course introduces the student to Greek tragedy as a genre. Students will read a number of Greek tragedies in (Icelandic) translation and will become familiar with both the form and content of Greek tragedies. Various aspects of the genre will be discussed, including interactions of mortals and immortals in Greek tragedy, fate and responsibility, gender issues, Greek self-identity and respresentation of the foreign.

Knowledge of Ancient Greek is not required, but students who are able to read Greek will be asked to submit a translation assignment.

The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context. The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context.

The course is organized around three basic topics: (i) The human being as a rational, sentient and ethical being, (i) the aims of education and (iii) freedom and democracy. Among the philosophers and educational theorists discussed in the course are Plato, Rousseau, Kant, Dewey, Key, Neill and Freire.

An individual project on the ethics of nature.

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.

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.

The BA dissertation in philosophy is intended to develop the student's ability to examine a chosen philosophical subject or work and to write about it in accepted scholarly fashion. The dissertation is written under the supervision of a member of the regular philosophy teaching staff. Students apply electronically for a supervisor, using a specific form. Further information on the BA dissertation in philosophy is available on the website of the Faculty of History and Philosophy.

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?

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.

The subjects of the course are fourfold. Firstly, Pierre Hadot's ideas about Hellenistic philosophy as a way of life will be examined (Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 1995). Secondly, reference will be made to several philosophers of the nineteenth century (e.g. Nietzsche, Emerson, Thoreau) who emphasize philosophy as a way of life. Thirdly, examples will be taken of how philosophical works that seem on the surface to have little to do with the way of life appear in a new light when they are examined from this perspective. Fourthly, we will examine the importance of diaries and biographical writing to philosophy as a way of life.

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.

Philosophy essentially involves an examination of human existence in the world, and human perception of the world. In the 20th century, continental Europe saw the emergence of a host of thinkers who enganged with existence and perception in a profound way, producing a plethora of classic works that differ significantly in terms of size and content. This course sets out to provide an insight into the theoretical outlook of existentialism and phenomenology through a thorough reading of key texts by authors such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus. Among the issues addressed are meaning and purpose, consciousness and its objects, philosophy and science, sex and gender, and mind and body.

In this course, some of the main themes in contemporary political philosophy will be discussed. Special emphasis will be laid on the egalitarian liberalism of John Rawls and that criticized from the perspectives of libertarianism, communitarianism, feminism, discourse democratic theory and post-structuralism.

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.

This course will focus on several select themes in the history of ideas in antiquity, including love and friendship, freedom and servitude, happiness, the divine, justice and society, death and the afterlife. Ideas of both Greeks and Romans from the archaic to the classical period will be discussed. Texts will include ancient literature in translation. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

The course is a continuation of LAT101G Latin I. Students will read a selection of Latin texts by various authors.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is a continuation of KLM102G Ancient Greek I. The first part of the course resumes coverage of grammar and syntax of Ancient Greek (Attic) where Ancient Greek I left off. During the second half of the course, students will read a selection of Ancient Greek texts by different authors from various periods.

Students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

In this course we will read selections from medieval literature broadly conceived (from the end og the 4th century to the beginning of the 16th century): poetry and historiography, philosophy and theology. Texts will be analysed grammatically and discussed materially as needed.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, but students whose native language is not Icelandic may complete assignments and exams in English.

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”.

The BA dissertation in philosophy is intended to develop the student's ability to examine a chosen philosophical subject or work and to write about it in accepted scholarly fashion. The dissertation is written under the supervision of a member of the regular philosophy teaching staff. Students apply electronically for a supervisor, using a specific form. Further information on the BA dissertation in philosophy is available on the website of the Faculty of Philosophy, History, and Archaeology.

This course discusses the question "What is Philosophy?" and the relationship of philosophy to science, art, religion and politics. We will read both classical and contemporary philosophy texts to study the different methods and problems of philosophy.

A survey of ancient philosophy, based upon a close reading of primary texts from the works of the Presocratics, Plato and Aristotle, and their Hellenistic successors. The primary aim is to offer an overview of the development of ancient philosophy. A secondary aim is to offer an insight into the importance of the history of philosophy for philosophy, and deepen the students' competence in reading philosophical works from the ancient world. At the completion of the course, the students should be acquainted with the main periods and individual thinkers of ancient philosophy, their views and arguments. They should be able to give an account of these views, support it with references to the primary sources, and compare the views of different philosophers. Further, they should have gained an insight into the importance of the history of philosophy for philosophy and the historical origins of classical philosophical problems.

The aim of this course is to show students the importance of critical thinking by introducing its main concepts and methods as well as different understandings of the notion. Furthermore, the aim is to train students in critical thinking and argumentation, both in a philosophical and an everyday context. Special emphasis will be placed on analysing arguments. The relationship between critical thinking and ethics will be thoroughly examined.

The teaching involves both lectures and discussion sessions. Assignments will primarily be aimed at practical tasks relevant to everyday experiences.

In this course, we discuss a few selected contemporary issues in the field of social and political philosophy. We will discuss and analyse key concepts of relevance for a good society, such as liberty, equality, justice and democracy with a special reference to Icelandic society. 

Students will be introduced to the basics of philosophical and formal logic. The course focuses on propositional logic (truth-functional logic) and quantified logic (first-order logic). Additionally, a brief survey of informal logic will be given at the beginning of the course, and philosophical questions concerning the nature and status of logic will be addressed toward the end of the course.

This course provides an overview of three principal moral theories: Aristotle's virtue ethics as presented in his Nichomachean Ethics, Kant's deontoloical ethics as presented in his Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals and John Stuart Mill's rule ethics as presented in his Utilitarianism.

Description
A survey of Western philosophy in the 17th and 18th Centuries, with emphasis on selected topics in the epistomology and metaphysics of the period, based upon a close reading and comparison of primary texts. Descartes, Hume and Kant are the principal authors discussed.

Teaching
The teaching involves both lectures and discussions. Lectures will give an exposition of the subject and/or of its main topics. Discussions will adress more specific topics or questions.

The course aims to give a brief survey of selected topics in the philosophy of art; to introduce students to particular discussions, questions, theories and arguments in the philosophy of art through selected readings, both historical and contemporary; and to enable students to discuss topics related to aesthetics.

In this course, 19th and 20th century ideas that had fundamental effects on Western philosophy and intellectual history, will be examined. These are socially transformative ideas such as freedom, secularism, equality, resistance, the relation between the individual and society, ideas concerning existence and the soul, oppression, injustice, the national state and capitalism. Perhaps last but not least ideas about history, time and evolution of humanity and the planet. 

Each week a new thinker or idea that transformed Western intellectual history is introduced and engaged with. Thinkers such as G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Rosa Luxembourg and Emma Goldman are analysed and influential isms such as phenomenology, neoliberalism or postructuralism. The aim is to read these thinkers and isms in accordance with the zeitgeist of the historical period they belong to (to the extent that we, people in the 21st century can “read” zeitgeists of older periods). At the same time the aim is to dig deep into original texts and to acquire multi-dimensional understanding of the ideas. Important part of the course is also to look at these themes in relation to the present times and the issues happening at the moment in Western societies and all around the globe. 

This course offers an introduction into main approaches and topics of feminist philosophy and philosophy of diversity. The status of women philosophers in the history of philosophy as well as critical discussions about canons of Western philosophy will be discussed.

Feminist and diversity philosophy shed a critical light on malecentrism in traditional ideas about practical rationality, the epistemic knower and ideas about the self. The goal of this criticism is to uncover resources for rethinking basic concepts of philosophy so that they yield a richer understanding and better reflect the diverse reality out of which they emerge.

Providing an overview of the main streams of thought in classical Indian, Chinese and Japanese philosophy, this course starts off with the philosophical ideas originating in ancient India that laid a foundation for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. We shall then move to the East Asian cultural sphere and discuss Confucianism and Daoism as well as the unusual versions of Buddhism emerging from their influence. The primary aim is to explicate the main ideas and notions making up these traditions, in part by making comparisons with Western philosophy, but also by taking note of their religious manifestations.

Instructor: Geir Sigurðsson, Professor of Chinese Studies and Transcultural Philosophy

In this course we will discuss and ask about the nature of knowledge and tackle problems that relate to knowledge. Why is knowledge important? Is understanding more important than knowledge? What is the difference between knowledge and true belief? What kind of justification is needed to change true belief into knowledge? Is is possible to investigate knowledge like digestion, i.e. with the methods of the natural sciences, or can we only approach it from within, i.e. by investigating our own consciousness? Can we trust the opinions of others? What conditions must be met to do people justice, irrespective of sex, race, age, gender etc? We will mainly read texts from the 20th and 21st century and use the methods of analytic philosophy in reading and analysing philosophical texts.

This course studies select philosophical texts. This time we will read the Laws Plato. The Laws are Plato’s longest dialogue as well as his last. It discusses political philosophy albeit in a different spirit from that of Plato’s older dialogue the Republic. In this course we will shed light on the political philosophy contained in the Laws and seek to place it in a wider Platonic context.

Knowledge of Greek and Latin is not required, but students of Classics may choose to work on a supervised independent study project (5 ECTS or 10 ECTS) centered on an original text in connection to the course. The supervised independent study projects which are available to students with reading knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin are intended to strengthen their proficiency in Ancient Greek and/or Latin and train them in the reading of original texts.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is an introduction to Classical Studies. It will deal with the history of the discipline as well as its subject matter and methods: Students will be introduced to classical philology and the various branches of Classical Studies, such as the history, literature, and philosophy of classical antiquity. The course will, moreover, address issues concerning the use of sources, methodology, and conventions in Classics. Students will be introduced to major resources. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

Obstinance, pride and treachery can have disastrous consequences, nevermind matricide, patricide and incest. Sometimes it almost seems like fate is in charge and fate can be very ironic. All of this is quite familiar from Greek tragedy.

This course introduces the student to Greek tragedy as a genre. Students will read a number of Greek tragedies in (Icelandic) translation and will become familiar with both the form and content of Greek tragedies. Various aspects of the genre will be discussed, including interactions of mortals and immortals in Greek tragedy, fate and responsibility, gender issues, Greek self-identity and respresentation of the foreign.

Knowledge of Ancient Greek is not required, but students who are able to read Greek will be asked to submit a translation assignment.

The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context. The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context.

The course is organized around three basic topics: (i) The human being as a rational, sentient and ethical being, (i) the aims of education and (iii) freedom and democracy. Among the philosophers and educational theorists discussed in the course are Plato, Rousseau, Kant, Dewey, Key, Neill and Freire.

The subjects of the course are fourfold. Firstly, Pierre Hadot's ideas about Hellenistic philosophy as a way of life will be examined (Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 1995). Secondly, reference will be made to several philosophers of the nineteenth century (e.g. Nietzsche, Emerson, Thoreau) who emphasize philosophy as a way of life. Thirdly, examples will be taken of how philosophical works that seem on the surface to have little to do with the way of life appear in a new light when they are examined from this perspective. Fourthly, we will examine the importance of diaries and biographical writing to philosophy as a way of life.

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.

Philosophy essentially involves an examination of human existence in the world, and human perception of the world. In the 20th century, continental Europe saw the emergence of a host of thinkers who enganged with existence and perception in a profound way, producing a plethora of classic works that differ significantly in terms of size and content. This course sets out to provide an insight into the theoretical outlook of existentialism and phenomenology through a thorough reading of key texts by authors such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus. Among the issues addressed are meaning and purpose, consciousness and its objects, philosophy and science, sex and gender, and mind and body.

In this course, some of the main themes in contemporary political philosophy will be discussed. Special emphasis will be laid on the egalitarian liberalism of John Rawls and that criticized from the perspectives of libertarianism, communitarianism, feminism, discourse democratic theory and post-structuralism.

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.

This course is dedicated to various issues in contemporary metaphysics as well as the history of metaphysics in the 20th and 21st centuries. Likely topics covered include personal identity; free will; realism, anti-realism, and nominalism; natural kinds and fictional characters; possible worlds; the relation between language and world; and the relation between mind and body.

This course will focus on several select themes in the history of ideas in antiquity, including love and friendship, freedom and servitude, happiness, the divine, justice and society, death and the afterlife. Ideas of both Greeks and Romans from the archaic to the classical period will be discussed. Texts will include ancient literature in translation. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

The course is a continuation of LAT101G Latin I. Students will read a selection of Latin texts by various authors.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is a continuation of KLM102G Ancient Greek I. The first part of the course resumes coverage of grammar and syntax of Ancient Greek (Attic) where Ancient Greek I left off. During the second half of the course, students will read a selection of Ancient Greek texts by different authors from various periods.

Students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

In this course we will read selections from medieval literature broadly conceived (from the end og the 4th century to the beginning of the 16th century): poetry and historiography, philosophy and theology. Texts will be analysed grammatically and discussed materially as needed.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, but students whose native language is not Icelandic may complete assignments and exams in English.

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”.

The course aims to give a brief survey of selected topics in the philosophy of art; to introduce students to particular discussions, questions, theories and arguments in the philosophy of art through selected readings, both historical and contemporary; and to enable students to discuss topics related to aesthetics.

In this course, 19th and 20th century ideas that had fundamental effects on Western philosophy and intellectual history, will be examined. These are socially transformative ideas such as freedom, secularism, equality, resistance, the relation between the individual and society, ideas concerning existence and the soul, oppression, injustice, the national state and capitalism. Perhaps last but not least ideas about history, time and evolution of humanity and the planet. 

Each week a new thinker or idea that transformed Western intellectual history is introduced and engaged with. Thinkers such as G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Rosa Luxembourg and Emma Goldman are analysed and influential isms such as phenomenology, neoliberalism or postructuralism. The aim is to read these thinkers and isms in accordance with the zeitgeist of the historical period they belong to (to the extent that we, people in the 21st century can “read” zeitgeists of older periods). At the same time the aim is to dig deep into original texts and to acquire multi-dimensional understanding of the ideas. Important part of the course is also to look at these themes in relation to the present times and the issues happening at the moment in Western societies and all around the globe. 

This course offers an introduction into main approaches and topics of feminist philosophy and philosophy of diversity. The status of women philosophers in the history of philosophy as well as critical discussions about canons of Western philosophy will be discussed.

Feminist and diversity philosophy shed a critical light on malecentrism in traditional ideas about practical rationality, the epistemic knower and ideas about the self. The goal of this criticism is to uncover resources for rethinking basic concepts of philosophy so that they yield a richer understanding and better reflect the diverse reality out of which they emerge.

Providing an overview of the main streams of thought in classical Indian, Chinese and Japanese philosophy, this course starts off with the philosophical ideas originating in ancient India that laid a foundation for Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. We shall then move to the East Asian cultural sphere and discuss Confucianism and Daoism as well as the unusual versions of Buddhism emerging from their influence. The primary aim is to explicate the main ideas and notions making up these traditions, in part by making comparisons with Western philosophy, but also by taking note of their religious manifestations.

Instructor: Geir Sigurðsson, Professor of Chinese Studies and Transcultural Philosophy

This course studies select philosophical texts. This time we will read the Laws Plato. The Laws are Plato’s longest dialogue as well as his last. It discusses political philosophy albeit in a different spirit from that of Plato’s older dialogue the Republic. In this course we will shed light on the political philosophy contained in the Laws and seek to place it in a wider Platonic context.

Knowledge of Greek and Latin is not required, but students of Classics may choose to work on a supervised independent study project (5 ECTS or 10 ECTS) centered on an original text in connection to the course. The supervised independent study projects which are available to students with reading knowledge of Ancient Greek and Latin are intended to strengthen their proficiency in Ancient Greek and/or Latin and train them in the reading of original texts.

This course is a beginner’s course in Latin. No prior knowledge of Latin is assumed at the outset. It introduces the basics of Latin grammar and syntax. Chosen passages will be read in Latin, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of 24 lectures on particular aspects of the Latin language and assigned readings.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

This course is a beginner’s course in Ancient Greek. It introduces the basics of grammar and syntax of the Attic dialect. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed at the outset. Reading knowledge of Ancient Greek will be prioritized and chosen passages will be read in Greek, translated and thoroughly analysed. Teaching consists of both lectures on particular aspects of the Greek language and assigned readings. It is essential that students read the assigned materials before each lecture.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is an introduction to Classical Studies. It will deal with the history of the discipline as well as its subject matter and methods: Students will be introduced to classical philology and the various branches of Classical Studies, such as the history, literature, and philosophy of classical antiquity. The course will, moreover, address issues concerning the use of sources, methodology, and conventions in Classics. Students will be introduced to major resources. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

Obstinance, pride and treachery can have disastrous consequences, nevermind matricide, patricide and incest. Sometimes it almost seems like fate is in charge and fate can be very ironic. All of this is quite familiar from Greek tragedy.

This course introduces the student to Greek tragedy as a genre. Students will read a number of Greek tragedies in (Icelandic) translation and will become familiar with both the form and content of Greek tragedies. Various aspects of the genre will be discussed, including interactions of mortals and immortals in Greek tragedy, fate and responsibility, gender issues, Greek self-identity and respresentation of the foreign.

Knowledge of Ancient Greek is not required, but students who are able to read Greek will be asked to submit a translation assignment.

The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context. The main objective of this course is to prepare students for a critical approach to ideas and methods in pedagogy and education. Students will be introduced to the main ideas that have shaped schools and education in the western tradition and made able to locate contemporary currents in an ideological context.

The course is organized around three basic topics: (i) The human being as a rational, sentient and ethical being, (i) the aims of education and (iii) freedom and democracy. Among the philosophers and educational theorists discussed in the course are Plato, Rousseau, Kant, Dewey, Key, Neill and Freire.

An individual project on the ethics of nature.

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.

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.

The BA dissertation in philosophy is intended to develop the student's ability to examine a chosen philosophical subject or work and to write about it in accepted scholarly fashion. The dissertation is written under the supervision of a member of the regular philosophy teaching staff. Students apply electronically for a supervisor, using a specific form. Further information on the BA dissertation in philosophy is available on the website of the Faculty of History and Philosophy.

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?

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.

The subjects of the course are fourfold. Firstly, Pierre Hadot's ideas about Hellenistic philosophy as a way of life will be examined (Pierre Hadot, Philosophy as a Way of Life, 1995). Secondly, reference will be made to several philosophers of the nineteenth century (e.g. Nietzsche, Emerson, Thoreau) who emphasize philosophy as a way of life. Thirdly, examples will be taken of how philosophical works that seem on the surface to have little to do with the way of life appear in a new light when they are examined from this perspective. Fourthly, we will examine the importance of diaries and biographical writing to philosophy as a way of life.

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.

Philosophy essentially involves an examination of human existence in the world, and human perception of the world. In the 20th century, continental Europe saw the emergence of a host of thinkers who enganged with existence and perception in a profound way, producing a plethora of classic works that differ significantly in terms of size and content. This course sets out to provide an insight into the theoretical outlook of existentialism and phenomenology through a thorough reading of key texts by authors such as Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Albert Camus. Among the issues addressed are meaning and purpose, consciousness and its objects, philosophy and science, sex and gender, and mind and body.

In this course, some of the main themes in contemporary political philosophy will be discussed. Special emphasis will be laid on the egalitarian liberalism of John Rawls and that criticized from the perspectives of libertarianism, communitarianism, feminism, discourse democratic theory and post-structuralism.

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.

This course will focus on several select themes in the history of ideas in antiquity, including love and friendship, freedom and servitude, happiness, the divine, justice and society, death and the afterlife. Ideas of both Greeks and Romans from the archaic to the classical period will be discussed. Texts will include ancient literature in translation. Knowledge of the classical languages is not required.

The course is a continuation of LAT101G Latin I. Students will read a selection of Latin texts by various authors.

This course is taught in Icelandic but students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

The course is a continuation of KLM102G Ancient Greek I. The first part of the course resumes coverage of grammar and syntax of Ancient Greek (Attic) where Ancient Greek I left off. During the second half of the course, students will read a selection of Ancient Greek texts by different authors from various periods.

Students can get permission of the instructor to complete assignments and exams in English.

In this course we will read selections from medieval literature broadly conceived (from the end og the 4th century to the beginning of the 16th century): poetry and historiography, philosophy and theology. Texts will be analysed grammatically and discussed materially as needed.

The course will be taught in Icelandic, but students whose native language is not Icelandic may complete assignments and exams in English.

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”.

The BA dissertation in philosophy is intended to develop the student's ability to examine a chosen philosophical subject or work and to write about it in accepted scholarly fashion. The dissertation is written under the supervision of a member of the regular philosophy teaching staff. Students apply electronically for a supervisor, using a specific form. Further information on the BA dissertation in philosophy is available on the website of the Faculty of Philosophy, History, and Archaeology.