Face-to-face , first and second term, 90 hours of theory.

First term
Monday from 08:30 to 10:30 at Ommegang Om10
Tuesday from 09:30 to 10:30 at Ommegang Om10
Second term
Wednesday from 10:45 to 11:45 at Ommegang Om10
Thursday from 10:45 to 12:45 at Ommegang Om10

French.

This course aims to familiarise students with the specificity of philosophical reasoning and to help them develop their critical skills, refine their analytical reasoning and improve their argumentative skills.

The course is based on a broad heritage of philosophers and aims to contribute to the students' general culture and to make them understand that philosophical thinking, however original and innovative it may be, is always dependent on a precise socio-historical context, on events and/or problems in relation to which it has been developed.

Acquiring a solid knowledge of general philosophy is more specifically of direct and crucial interest to lawyers. As for the method, on the one hand, the reading, commentary, and interpretation of philosophical texts, given their specific technicality, constitute an important exercise in the training of future lawyers, who must be able to grasp all the nuances and complexity of legal language, to interpret it wisely, and to question it. From a thematic point of view, on the other hand, and in addition to the fact that the first part of the course will be dedicated to the question of justice, the legal phenomenon seems to us to be inseparable from a reflection on the human being and on society in their multiple aspects. Close links bring this course close to the courses on sources and principles of law, constitutional law and even Roman law, as well as to the courses on contemporary legal thought and natural law.

In other words, this course aims to support the development of critical and conceptual skills, such as the ability
- to identify and understand the construction of a philosophical problem ;
- to understand a philosophical text and reconstruct its argumentation;
- to identify, restitute and differentiate different philosophical propositions;
- to measure the influence of the socio-historical and cultural context on the development of an idea, and to highlight the worldviews, values and presuppositions underlying a reasoning;
- to differentiate between types of judgement (philosophical, scientific, legal, moral, aesthetic) and to identify their own logic;
- to mobilise philosophical resources to build a personal view on a given question.

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Throughout the year, the aim will be to familiarise students with the apparent 'strangeness' of philosophical questioning, and to make them aware of the fact that the propositions of philosophers relays questions specific to each individual (on the relationship to justice, to others, to time, to the existence of God, etc.), and that it has contributed to shaping our ways of thinking. Thus, we will try to highlight how the "problems" that past thinkers faced, as well as the concepts they developed to solve them, can help us build our own answers to the "problems" we face today.

This course belongs to general philosophy but is specifically intended for law students: it deals with issues of direct interest to lawyers.

The course is given ex cathedra, in a large auditorium, unless sanitary restrictions require distance learning.

Reference material will be available on moodle but note-taking is required.

Help is offered during the weekly "monitorats" given by an assistant.

A forum is also available on moodle where students can ask questions to the professors

The evaluation will take the form of a written exam, on the University site if the sanitary context allows it, on moodle if it doesn't.

This course being designed to lead students to develop critical thinking and to construct an argument, the examination may consist of several questions that focus on the understanding of the major articulations of the course and the philosophical texts that constitute its foundation.
Questions may consist in :
- a commentary on a text, placing it in the more general framework of the author's philosophy;
- a comparison of several philosophical propositions on a specific question or a synthetic explanation of a key concept or reasoning;
- more specific questions aimed at assessing the students' understanding of a specific point of the course ;
- possibly, a more personal reflection in the form of an essay.

As the course is annual, the mark obtained in January is dispensatory, and worth half of the total, in June and September, if it is equal to or higher than 10/20.

In the reference material, on moodle.