Lutz Wingert: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2017

Name	Prof. em. Dr. Lutz Wingert
Field	Philosophy, Practical Philosophy in particular
Address	Professur für Philosophie ETH Zürich, RZ F 2 Clausiusstrasse 59 8092 Zürich SWITZERLAND
E-mail	lutz.wingert@gess.ethz.ch
Department	Humanities, Social and Political Sciences
Relationship	Professor emeritus

Number	Title	ECTS	Hours	Lecturers
851-0125-70L	What is Enlightening Reasoning? On Enlightenment, Prejudices and Social Criticism	3 credits	2G	L. Wingert
Abstract	What are the essentials for a social order which protects equal personal freedom as well as the common good? In our days, the answer is difficult when taking into account the return of intolerant religions, e.g. radical islam, increasing scepticism towards science and raising political conflicts. The course should figure out the meaning and potential achievements of an enlightening reason.
Learning objective	There are many theories of rationality. According to one tradition of thinking, rationality or reason is the ability, to enligthen or to track prejudices, the own one's and the prejudices of others, and to correct them. Charles S. Peirce and Wilfrid Sellars, Jürgen Habermas and Ernst Tugendhat, Hilary Puntam and Thomas Nagel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Paul Ricoeur belong to this strand of thinking about rationality. Enlightening reasoning is self-critical and anti-fundamentalistic. 1. The course should make familiar with such a conception of enlightening reason. 2. Enlightening reasoning is associated with a specific period in European history. The course should inform about this period and - as far as possible - about enligthenment in other times and regions of the world. Prejudices and blind spots are not confined to an individual's mind. Collectivities and societies do have them, too. E. g., one collective prejudice is that only competition on markets, but not solidaristic cooperation could produce sustainable progress. According to another collective prejudice, all human cultures have equal worth, and criticism of a certain culture expresses a racist attitude. A third collectively shared prejudice in Western societies is that growth is essential for the functioning of a modern economy. 3. Part of the course's tasks is to investigate whether and how the conception of an enlightening reasoning can contribute to correcting concrete prejudices.
851-0125-71L	Whose Responsibility for What? Aspects of Individual and Collective Responsibility Particularly suitable for students of D-ARCH, D-BAUG, D-HEST, D-MTEC, D-USYS	3 credits	2G	L. Wingert
Abstract	Responsibility is a key concept in ethics: The individual's responsibility is emphasized. Contrary to that, one often points to the limits of a person's responsibility, e.g. for a stock market crash, for greenhouse gas emissions, for injust social conditions. What belongs to to our responsibility as individuals and what to our collective responsibility? And do robots have responsibilities?
Learning objective	1. Certain concepts should be clarified: e.g., the very meaning of "being responsible for one's actions and its consequences". To what extent are we responsible for the social conditions we find ourselves in? 2. One theoretical position in the philosophy of sociality holds that only individual persons (and not firms, institutions, or states) can be responsible for action and social conditions. Students should be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this thesis (methodological individualism). 3. What does responsibility mean in special social spheres like the economy and the sciences? What does a citizen's collective and personal responsibility consist in?
862-0002-18L	Research Colloquium History of Knowledge (HS 2017) Only for MAGPW students, D-GESS PHD and D-ARCH PHD students. This colloquium is highly recommended for first and second semester MAGPW students.	2 credits	1K + 1A	A. Kilcher, K. M. Espahangizi, D. Gugerli, M. Hagner, P. Sarasin, P. Ursprung, L. Wingert
Abstract	The colloquium of the ZGW focuses on present developments, debates and perspectives in the field of history of knowledge. On the second and fourth date there will be public events in the Cabaret Voltaire.
Learning objective	The colloquium deals with the general problems, questions and methods of the interdisciplinary research field "The History of Knowledge". Knowledge has become one of the existential conditions of modern societies and it increasingly determines their dynamics. Therefore, it is getting more and more relevant to develop a differentiated analysis of the epistemic, social and cultural constraints of the production, circulation and the decay of knowledge. In addition, the colloquium asks after the cultural and ethical resonances of knowledge not only within science but also in relation to art, literature, technology, everyday life, and so on.
Prerequisites / Notice	Short notice about program changes are possible and will be communicated through the ZGW newsletter. Please register with www.zgw.ethz.ch/de/newsletter.html Credit points can be gained by regular attending and by writing an essay. In addtition to the five colloquia there will be a deepening seminar on offer (lecturer K. Esphahangizi). Free childcare available.
862-0004-05L	Research Colloquium Philosophy for Master Students and PhD (HS 2017) For MAGPW and PhD students of D-GESS only. Personal registration required to Prof. Wingert.	2 credits	1K	L. Wingert, R. Wagner
Abstract	Ph.D. students, post docs, members of staff, and senior colleagues from other philosophy departments will report on their work in progress. Furthermore, promissing new philosophical articles and parts of new philosophical books will be studied.
Learning objective	Ideas and arguments dealing with systematic problems especially in epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, and the philosophy of mind will be scrutinized and elaborated.