The following selection contains examples of reading, problem-based, and advanced courses that we have offered in the past. Topics may change in future years.
Reading Seminar in Philosophy I (Niklas Forsberg, Winter Semester 2025/2026)
This course is an introduction to the philosophy of Simone Weil (1909 - 1943). The course consists of close readings of some of her most central philosophical texts. Weil's works have been enormously influential in contemporary philosophy of religion, philosophy of love, philosophy of attention, and political philosophy. Several of her thoughts are notoriously difficult, and she is often referred to as a "mystic". The aim of this course is to unpack some of her most central works and discuss them in detail. All meetings will take the form of a discussion seminar (apart from the first meeting, which will be an introductory lecture), so all students need to have read the designated texts in advance.
Reading Seminar in Philosophy II (Antony Fredriksson, Winter Semester 2025/2026)
The objective of the course is to focus on one specific contemporary book within ethics. We will read Sara Ahmed’s The Cultural Politics of Emotion from beginning to end. Description of the book:
"A bold take on the crucial role of emotion in politics. What do emotions do? How do emotions move us or get us stuck? In developing a theory of the cultural politics of emotion, Sara Ahmed focuses on the relationship between emotions, language and bodies. She shows how emotions are named in speech acts, as well as how they involve sensations that are felt by the skin. The Cultural Politics of Emotion develops a new methodology for reading 'the emotionality of texts' and offers analyses of the role of emotions in debates on international terrorism, asylum and migration, and reconciliation and reparation."
During the session we will go into a detailed discussion of each chapter and scrutinize the examples that pose a challenge for our moral understanding.
Reading Seminar in Philosophy III (Niklas Forsberg and Antony Fredriksson, Winter Semester 2025/2026)
This course aims to: (i) elucidate what it means to think philosophically with and about film, (ii) to think about the relationship between film and philosophy, (iii) to critically examine the philosophical significance of films in terms of how, for example, films portray and convey emotions and knowledge, and how films may induce changes of beliefs more generally. We will also discuss how philosophical problems are portrayed and processed in films.
Themes that will be discussed include the nature of film and the specificity of film as a medium; the way that films may be said to argue philosophically, and the relationships between thought, language, and the moving image. A recurring theme will be what the philosophical value for ethical reflection films is. During the course, central philosophical topics such as philosophy of mind, memory, personal identity, moral transformation and many different varieties of moral philosophy will be discussed. We will alternate between philosophical texts about film and aesthetics, films, and classical philosophical texts that do not directly speak about film (whereas the films we watch together indeed may "speak" about topics discussed in the classical philosophical texts).
Screened films include: Bladerunner; The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; The Philadelphia Story; and The Act of Killing.
Problems in Ethics I (Lesley Jamieson, Winter Semester 2025/2026)
In this course, our central topic will be moral responsibility, the nature of blame, and when it should be withheld from apparent wrongdoers. We will examine a number of categories of "excuse", conditions that arguably mitigate the blameworthiness of behaviour, including: causal determinism, ignorance of fact, moral luck; ignorance (especially forms rooted in culture and upbringing); and conditions like psychopathy. We will moreover reflect on forms of responsibility specific to our epistemic practices (e.g., who we trust or distrust as sources of testimonial knowledge). In each of these discussions, you will be invited to reflect on the forms that blame take, the role that blame practices have in human life, and how this bears on questions of the appropriateness of blame in the cases under consideration.
Problems in Ethics II (Ryan Manhire, Summer Semester 2025/2026)
In this course, we will discuss contemporary debates and research in ethics. We will explore specific moral issues via traditional and non-traditional philosophical approaches, as they relate to non-human animals, the environment, social exclusion, and AI. Students will not only consider these approaches from the problem-based perspective of applied ethics, but will also be invited to consider how approaches to these topics are shaped by certain ethical and metaphysical presuppositions.
The course has two major goals: (1) to learn to identify and assess a variety of argumentative strategies as they pertain to concrete moral issues; and (2) to critically examine the ethical and metaphysical presuppositions that shape these argumentative strategies.
Advanced Ethics II (Niklas Forsberg, Summer Semester 2025/2026)
This course explores questions of objectivity, subjectivity, truth, relativism, relativity, and historical change in morality.
The first part of the course will introduce the main problem: Our most fundamental moral beliefs seem to vary and be susceptible to change. How are we to deal with the fact that ethico-political values differ from person to person, culture to culture, society to society, and epoch to epoch? This problem is also intimately connected with difficulties surrounding moral progress and moralism (since it calls our mandate to pass judgment into question). After that, we will study different forms of moral relativism as well as central efforts to defend moral objectivity in a changing world. Finally, we will explore some contemporary accounts of how to think clearly about moral change and differences that aim to avoid simplistic forms of relativism or naive objectivism. Thus, this course gives an introduction to questions of relativism and objectivism in ethics and points out paths of contemporary inquiry that seek to mediate between these opposites. We will also reflect on the roles of relativist and objectivist insights in addressing contemporary moral questions and challenges.
Advanced Political Philosophy I (Sylvie Bláhová, Winter Semester 2025/2026)
The course explores how emotions shape political agency, legitimacy, and public discourse, challenging the traditional assumption that political actors are primarily rational. Students will gain knowledge of emotions as epistemic and moral resources, and they will also examine how emotions can be understood as legitimate political forces. We will analyze the phenomenon of populism and consider whether it should be seen solely as a threat. In addition, we will study the role of emotions in justice and political protest, as well as their impact on democratic decline and, conversely, their potential to be cultivated for democratic resilience.
Problems in Political Philosophy II (Ondřej Beran, Summer Semester 2025/2026)
The course consists of short lectures combined with seminar discussions of selected topics from current debates in political thinking. The tentative plan of topics includes: Antagonism vs. conceptions of public reason; the revival of conservativism; race and racism; The problems of colonialism; postcolonialism debates; poverty and exploitation; war; debt, economic policies & “traditions” (Modern Monetary Theory); capitalist realism, work, Universal Basic Income; civil disobedience, direct democracy, populism; “overpopulation" and "underpopulation" debates; climate justice; and AI.