The Bachelor study of philosophy covers the classical philosophical topics with respect to moral philosophy and political thought, as well as to the question of education in Euro-American society.
The study aims at mastering the intellectual backgrounds of this culture and therefore at developing the students’ own orientation in it and their critical thinking. This presupposes that they become acquainted with the history of philosophy with a special focus on the formation and constitution of the modern intellectual culture and individuality, moral philosophy, philosophy of education and political philosophy. The students should cultivate critical thinking not only in discussing the particular systematic problems in relation to their formation in the history of philosophy, but also in relation to their position in contemporary social and spiritual developments.
This programme of study also focuses on Czech thought tradition, represented mainly by the philosophy of Jan Patočka and the philosophical Comeniology. The topics from the European and American thought tradition cover the formation of modern thought (German classical philosophy), hermeneutics, phenomenology and post-structuralism, pragmatism and neo-pragmatism. The study of archaic and classical ancient culture is being pursued at the department in these actual contexts as well.
Contact us for information about possible support for Ukrainian students.
Topics and requirements of the bachelor admission exam
Study programme: B6101 Philosophy
Study field: Philosophy 6101R004
Mode of study: full-time
Length of study, academic title: 3 years, Bc.
The admission exam consists only in an interview:
The Department of Philosophy cancelled the written form of the admission exam. The admission exam consists only in an oral interview during which the applicant proves his or her interest in the chosen field (on the basis of his or her proposed list of philosophical literature) and the ability to discuss his or her philosophical reading. The applicant will offer the reading list consisting of philosophically relevant primary literature to the committee during the oral exam. Alternatively he or she can include some of the introductions in philosophy listed below or some primary literature from the domain of other social sciences or humanities.
You can watch a mock interview here
Concrete criteria and conditions for the admission to the study of the given programme/field:
The applicant can receive maximum 50 points. The minimal number of points sufficient for the admission is 31. The applicants will be accepted according to their point counts up to the total number of 40.
Rules for the possible exemption from the admission exam:
Exemption from the admission exam is not possible.
It is necessary to submit the application either on the standard form or electronically. (for details see the link „Prospective students”)
Literature recommended for introduction to philosophy:
- Blecha, Ivan: Filosofie, nakladatelství Olomouc, novější vydání
- Bochenski, Joseph Maria: Cesty k filosofickému myšlení. Praha : Svoboda, 1994
- Fearn, Nicholas: Jak a o čem přemýšlejí filozofové. Praha : Portál, 2004
- Jaspers, Karl: Úvod do filosofie, Praha : Oikoymenh, 1996
- Kratochvíl, Zdeněk: Mýtus, filosofie, věda. Praha : Hrnčířství a nakladatelství Jůzovi, 1993, 1996
- Petříček, Miroslav: Úvod do (současné) filosofie. Praha : Herrmann a synové, 1997
- Tretera, Ivo: Nástin dějin evropského myšlení. Od Thaléta k Rousseauovi. Praha : 1999
- Edice Dějiny filosofie, nakladatelství Oikoymenh
etc.
Bachelor exams – plan of topics and the form of exams
The Bachelor exams are commissional (committee of three members) and they consist of two parts: 1) written dissertation and 2) oral examination.
1. The written dissertation in the recommended length of 35 normed pages must include a summary in English, French or German (1 normed page). The student chooses a topic on the basis of the list of topics offered by the department, or alternatively consults the future supervisor with another topic. The dissertation is to be defended during the oral examination and there are 30 minutes allocated for the defense. The students should see both to the quality of content as well as to grammar and style that will be considered with equal rigour as the expertise in the topic. We recommend to follow the university norm ISO 690 as to the quotation rules.
Guidelines to the final thesis.
2. The oral exam consists of:
I. The defence of the Bachelor dissertation (30 minutes)
II. Two domains of questions (the questions for download here – in Czech only)
a) Philosophy and history of philosophy (with respect to the philosophy of education) – 14 structured questions with bibliography.
b) Philosophical Comeniology and anthropology – 14 structured questions with bibliography.
The students draw lots one question from each domain; they have approximately 10 minutes for each question during the examination.
The oral exam should take 60 minutes on the whole.
