Curriculum
Critical Politics: Marx, Popper, Foucault
Dr. Ilana Arbel
In this course we discuss some of the main issues in modern and postmodern political philosophy. The first part of the course is dedicated to Karl Marx’s critical project. We then discuss Karl Popper’s and Michel Foucault’s critiques, which were developed in reaction to Marxism. The main texts of the course are: E. Kant, “An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?"; K. Marx, The Communist Manifesto; K. Popper, “Science: Conjectures and Refutations”; The Open Society and Its Enemies; M. Foucault, The History of Sexuality 1; “What Is Enlightenment?”; N. Chomsky & M. Foucault, “Human Nature: Justice versus Power”.
Political Thought: A Contemporary Perspective
Dr. Kuti Shoham
With the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of the last decade of the 20th century, it seemed that liberal democracy and the free-market society had finally defeated fascism and communism. Western Political economy began to spread across the globe, and many believed that at the new millennium humanity will benefit stability and prosperity.
Francis Fukuyama well expressed this mindset in his article 1989 "The End of History" with the claim that in the era after the wars we can direct our resources to technological advancement, handling environmental problems, improving the quality of services and the abundance of products, and more. However, some viewed Fukuyama's vision as nothing more than a brief and optimistic moment in history. Samuel Huntington, Fukuyama's teacher, argued that we are on the verge of "The Clash of Civilizations", in which the various civilizations that comprise humanity differ in their conceptual perspectives and their values, hence cultural and religious identity will be the main source of conflicts in the post-Cold War world.
But around the historical corner awaited, among others, the Internet and social networks, climate crisis, METOO, the events of 09.11 in New York, two major economic crises (dot-com bubble and sub-prime mortgage crisis), the Islamic State (ISIS) and the rise of fascism in various parts of Europe. During the three decades that have passed since the dispute between Fukuyama and Huntington, Israel too experienced the effects of global shock waves. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords and the peace agreement with Jordan, the rise of political power of religious parties and the takeover of the legislative power by the executive authority, the privatization of government companies, the attempt to undermine the Israeli judicial authority, and finally the events of October 7 and the "Iron Swords" war further challenged the political sphere.
The seminar will discuss the political developments from "The End of History" to the present day through the various theories in contemporary political thought.
Francis Fukuyama well expressed this mindset in his article 1989 "The End of History" with the claim that in the era after the wars we can direct our resources to technological advancement, handling environmental problems, improving the quality of services and the abundance of products, and more. However, some viewed Fukuyama's vision as nothing more than a brief and optimistic moment in history. Samuel Huntington, Fukuyama's teacher, argued that we are on the verge of "The Clash of Civilizations", in which the various civilizations that comprise humanity differ in their conceptual perspectives and their values, hence cultural and religious identity will be the main source of conflicts in the post-Cold War world.
But around the historical corner awaited, among others, the Internet and social networks, climate crisis, METOO, the events of 09.11 in New York, two major economic crises (dot-com bubble and sub-prime mortgage crisis), the Islamic State (ISIS) and the rise of fascism in various parts of Europe. During the three decades that have passed since the dispute between Fukuyama and Huntington, Israel too experienced the effects of global shock waves. Following the signing of the Oslo Accords and the peace agreement with Jordan, the rise of political power of religious parties and the takeover of the legislative power by the executive authority, the privatization of government companies, the attempt to undermine the Israeli judicial authority, and finally the events of October 7 and the "Iron Swords" war further challenged the political sphere.
The seminar will discuss the political developments from "The End of History" to the present day through the various theories in contemporary political thought.
20th Century Analytical Philosophy
Ms. Maya Roman
The course will focus on the history of 20th century analytic philosophy from its origins in British and American thought and survey how it became one of the main traditions in contemporary philosophy. The discussion will focus on questions of reference, representation and the connection between mind, language and world.
We will delve into the definition of analysis, logical atomism, logical positivism and the impact of the linguistic turn.
The class will read from the works of Frege, Russell, Moore, Hempel, Carnap, Quine, Wittgenstein, Sellars and more.
We will delve into the definition of analysis, logical atomism, logical positivism and the impact of the linguistic turn.
The class will read from the works of Frege, Russell, Moore, Hempel, Carnap, Quine, Wittgenstein, Sellars and more.
Introduction to the Ethics of Machine
Dr. Erez Firt
The course deals with many topics related to the state of artificial intelligence today and in the near and more distant future. Its goal is to expose students to central concepts and ideas in the field of philosophy of artificial intelligence and machine ethics, including the difficulties we face when developing autonomous machines, as the importance of the decisions we delegate to them is increasing. The first part of the course will focus on building a conceptual and technological foundation: What is artificial intelligence? What is meant by narrow and general artificial intelligence? At what technological stage artificial intelligence is today? What is involved in transferring decision-making to machines? the concept of moral agent, types of artificial moral agents in literature, and more. We shall then proceed to deal with topics related to the future of artificial intelligence, the significant problems facing us when we come to examine the development of future machines and artificial moral agents such as the Control problem and the Value Alignment problem, and the various attempts to solve these problems, as well as potential social, legal and safety issues that will arise if and when we would wish to grant future machines moral status.
