Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to BA students in Philosophy: Global and Comparative Philosophy, who have successfully completed their first year, and also completed at least 10 EC’s of the mandatory components of their second year, including Language of Thought, and Concepts of Selfhood.
Description
Non-duality is a key notion in Buddhist philosophy. According to Buddhist texts, one enters the gate of non-duality upon realizing the ultimate nature of reality. Nevertheless, Buddhist philosophers have never reached a consensus over how to define this very concept. Does the negation of duality lead to absolute oneness or to the middle way? Is non-duality, since it nullifies subject-object dichotomy, simply ineffable? In answering these questions, this course invites students to study different forms of non-duality that further entail and epitomize the Buddhist view of knowledge, language, reality, and self-other relationship. Students will also explore how philosophers exercise their agency to creatively interpret non-duality in the local cultural and linguistic context, which not only contributes to cross-cultural communications inside Asia but also facilitates dialogues between Asian and European philosophers.
Course objectives
This course aims to:
explore ways of theorizing binaries and non-duality in a cross-cultural and multilingual context;
encourage intercultural studies of dialectical thinking.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
different types of binaries and different forms of non-duality;
philosophical articulations of non-duality as integral parts of people’s worldview.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
Engage in comparative studies of non-dualistic thinking;
Familiarize themselves with different forms of non-dualistic thinking;
Critically analyze ideas and notions presented in primary and secondary resources;
Develop skills in academic writing and cross-cultural communication.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the following website:
Mode of instruction
- Seminars
Class attendance is required.
Course load
Total course load 10 EC x 28 hours = 280 hours
Attending seminars (13 weeks x 3 hrs): 39 hours
Reading literature and preparation for class: 120 hours
Preparation for assignment(s) and paper(s): 100 hours
Preparation for seminars: 21 hours
Assessment method
Assessment
Final essay
Prepared questions
Attendance and participation in course discussion
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determination of the weighted average of several subtests:
Final essay: 55%
Prepared questions (to be further explained in the syllabus): 35%
Attendance and participation: 10%
Resit
The resit will consist of an opportunity to resubmit the final semester paper that was not sufficient. The grades for other exam components remain in place.
Students who have obtained a satisfactory grade for the course cannot take the resit.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for:
Instruction and communication;
Posting links for readings
Uploading additional materials, e.g. PowerPoints slides.
Reading list
The reading list will be posted on Blackboard.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website
Students are strongly advised to register in uSis through the activity number which can be found in the timetables for courses and exams.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
Remarks
Not applicable.