(in Polish) Embodiment and Contemporary Culture 520-KS2-1KON36
Embodiment is approached as a way of existing, understanding and acting. The lived body is more than an object of biological description: through seeing, hearing, touching, movement and voice we participate in a shared world, respond to others and encounter our capacities and limitations. Phenomenological and hermeneutic approaches examine how bodily experience acquires meaning in language, social practices and cultural works.
The course investigates relationships among sensitivity, vulnerability, autonomy, imagination and care. Health, illness, disability and aging disclose personal experience alongside the role of environments, cultural norms and institutions. Changing appearance, bodily interventions and technologies raise questions about possibilities for action, dependence and responsibility. Movement, music and performance provide material for examining expression, artistic demands and relations with audiences. Relationships between art and life are interpreted without assuming that suffering improves a person or that art necessarily heals.
The conversatorium develops attentive description, precise questions and supported interpretations through philosophical readings and encounters with particular works. Students compare arguments, identify assumptions and respond to other readings. Teaching combines short introductions, conversation, shared analysis of texts and audiovisual materials, small-group work, presentations and consultations. Exact materials and the sequence of topics are specified for each academic cycle.
Study profile: academic.
Mode of study: full-time.
Course type: elective.
Academic field: humanities; discipline: philosophy. Program: cultural studies, second-cycle studies, year I, winter semester.
Language of instruction: English.
Prerequisites: English at B1 level and readiness to work with materials and participate in conversation.
Teaching format and hours: conversatorium, 30 academic hours.
Assessment: graded course credit.
ECTS: 3.
Student workload: classes — 30 hours; readings, viewing and class preparation — 25 hours; midterm preparation — 5 hours; final presentation preparation — 10 hours; consultations — 5 hours. Total: 75 hours = 3 ECTS.
Workload indicators: direct participation of the instructor, 35 hours (1.4 ECTS); independent study, 40 hours (1.6 ECTS).
|
Term 2024:
This course will delve into fundamental philosophical concepts that shape our understanding of what it means to lead a truly flourishing life. The curriculum includes a more profound study of Martha C. Nussbaum's works, examining historical milestones in philosophical thought such as |
Term 2025:
This course will delve into fundamental philosophical concepts that shape our understanding of what it means to lead a truly flourishing life. The curriculum includes a more profound study of Martha C. Nussbaum's works, examining historical milestones in philosophical thought such as |
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Type of course
Learning outcomes
A) Knowledge — the graduate knows and understands
W1. The philosophical and cultural foundations of human embodiment, with particular attention to how classical and contemporary thinkers (including Aristotle, William James, Merleau-Ponty, Martha Nussbaum and Richard Kearney) understood the body as a fundamental dimension of existence, ethics and relationships with others. (P7S_WG: KA7_WG2)
W2. The specialized vocabulary of embodiment, fragility, relational agency, sensitivity and imagination used in philosophy, literature, art and cultural studies — in Polish and English at B2+ level. (P7S_WG: KA7_WG3)
W3. Contemporary philosophical and cultural approaches to trauma, health, illness, technological transformations of the body, relationality and care that redefine the meaning of bodily existence in contemporary societies. (P7S_WK: KA7_WK2)
Methods of verification (A): prepared discussion and shared close reading; short analytical oral and written contributions in class; a midterm presentation and a final interpretation of a work with questions and answers.
B) Skills — the graduate is able to
U1. Independently and creatively investigate philosophical, literary, film and performance texts concerning embodiment, fragility, health and imagination, using hermeneutic, phenomenological and cultural studies approaches. (P7S_UW: KA7_UW1)
U2. Formulate precise research questions arising from bodily experience and critically analyze tensions between dependence and freedom, and between the body as an object and the lived body. (P7S_UW: KA7_UW2)
U3. Apply varied interpretive strategies to tragedies, essays, films and artworks depicting human sensitivity, suffering and creativity; recognize the transformative role of imagination and art in healing and the expression of experience. (P7S_UW: KA7_UW3)
U4. Write well-structured essays and seminar papers that combine philosophical analysis with cultural interpretation and present the body as a site of meaning, relationships and ethical responsibility. (P7S_UW: KA7_UW6)
U5. Communicate effectively in academic settings, orally and in writing, presenting critical reflections on cultural images of the body, care, courage and hope through precise interdisciplinary language. (P7S_UK: KA7_UK1)
U6. Interpret written, visual and performative cultural texts; read the body as a sign in existential, ethical and technological debates, including those concerning contemporary posthumanist theories and digital media. (P7S_UU: KA7_UU2)
Methods of verification (B): interpretation of works in discussion and group work; short analytical writing exercises in class; a concise presentation outline with sources; an individual contribution to the midterm task and a final interpretation with discussion.
C) Social competences — the graduate is ready to
K1. Critically reflect on their own understanding of embodiment, fragility and freedom; remain open to transformative learning and dialogue attentive to diversity and the experience of others. (P7S_KK: KA7_KK1)
K2. Adopt an ethical approach grounded in empathy and responsibility; promote sensitivity to suffering and vulnerability in cultural, social and academic practices; cultivate mature, critical discourse about the body and its meanings. (P7S_KK: KA7_KK2)
Methods of verification (C): responsible preparation and collaboration; listening and responding to alternative interpretations; supported disagreement and willingness to reconsider one’s reading in conversation, the midterm project and the final discussion.
Assessment criteria
Graded course credit. The final grade comprises prepared, substantive participation, a midterm presentation or project with discussion, and a final individual interpretation with discussion. Assessment considers conceptual understanding, attentive engagement with texts and works, support for interpretations and responses to questions and other readings. Participation also includes pair and group work, questions, attentive listening and supported disagreement. Speaking frequency and English fluency alone do not determine achievement. Students are not required to disclose personal experiences of health or bodily life. Detailed briefs, criteria and completion arrangements are specified for the conversatorium in each cycle before assessed work begins.
Bibliography
Core bibliography. Only selections and materials announced before class are required; students are not expected to read all books in full:
1. Kearney, Richard. Touch: Recovering Our Most Vital Sense. Columbia University Press, 2021. Introduction, “Are We Losing Our Senses?”, and selected passages.
2. Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. Phenomenology of Perception. Routledge, 2012. Selected passages.
3. Gadamer, Hans-Georg. The Enigma of Health: The Art of Healing in a Scientific Age. Translated by Jason Gaiger and Nicholas Walker. Stanford University Press, 1996. Selected passages.
4. Nussbaum, Martha C. The Fragility of Goodness: Luck and Ethics in Greek Tragedy and Philosophy. Revised edition. Cambridge University Press, 2001 [1986]. Selected passages.
5. Nussbaum, Martha C. Creating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011. Selected passages.
6. Nussbaum, Martha C., and Saul Levmore. Aging Thoughtfully: Conversations about Retirement, Romance, Wrinkles, and Regret. Oxford University Press, 2017. Selected passages.
7. Ricœur, Paul. “Asserting Personal Capacities and Pleading for Mutual Recognition”. Kluge Prize address, Library of Congress, 2004. A selected passage.
8. Nussbaum, Martha C. “Martha Nussbaum: Applying the Lessons of Ancient Greece”. Bill Moyers interview, World of Ideas, 1988. Video and transcript: https://billmoyers.com/content/martha-nussbaum/
Supplementary bibliography — short alternative selections, project resources or further reading:
Carel, Havi. Illness: The Cry of the Flesh. Acumen, 2008.
Garland-Thomson, Rosemarie. “Misfits: A Feminist Materialist Disability Concept”. Hypatia 26, no. 3 (2011): 591–609.
Leder, Drew. The Absent Body. University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Lorde, Audre. The Cancer Journals. Penguin Classics, 2020 [1980].
Nussbaum, Martha C. Hiding from Humanity: Disgust, Shame, and the Law. Princeton University Press, 2004.
Nussbaum, Martha C. Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Reich, Warren T. “History of the Notion of Care”. In Encyclopedia of Bioethics, revised edition, 319–331. Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1995.
Ricœur, Paul. Oneself as Another. Translated by Kathleen Blamey. University of Chicago Press, 1992. Study 7, selections on solicitude.
Ricœur, Paul. “Suffering Is Not Pain: An Annotated English Translation”. Translated by Luz Ascarate and Astrid Chevance. Études Ricœuriennes / Ricœur Studies 15, no. 2 (2024): 14–27.
World Health Organization. Global Report on Ageism. WHO, 2021.
Film and artistic materials. This list indicates possible examples; exact required versions and extracts are announced in advance:
HUMAN (Yann Arthus-Bertrand, 2015), Extended Version, Volume 1; Frida (Julie Taymor, 2002); Sound of Metal (Darius Marder, 2019); Youth (Paolo Sorrentino, 2015); The Substance (Coralie Fargeat, 2024); The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948); What Happened, Miss Simone? (Liz Garbus, 2015).
Comparisons include selected scenes from A Streetcar Named Desire (Elia Kazan, 1951), As It Is in Heaven (Kay Pollak, 2004) and Cold War (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2018); paintings by Frida Kahlo and Alice Neel and works by Christine Sun Kim; selected portraits and advertisements; a stage excerpt from Matthew Bourne’s The Red Shoes; Nina Simone concert recordings; Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 1: Lux Aurumque (2010); and Randy Travis’s “Where That Came From” (2024), with its production account.
HUMAN, official free version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdb4XGVTHkE
Short readings are supplied in advance. Students are not expected to purchase every book or additional subscriptions. Material shared with another course is viewed once and addressed through different interpretive questions.
|
Term 2024:
Occasionally, the class will be supported by short videos or movies, Bibliography: |
Term 2025:
Occasionally, the class will be supported by short videos or movies, Bibliography: |
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: