PHIL 305

PHIL 305: Philosophy of Psychology
Instructor: Richard Kover

Course Description

This course will examine the philosophical import and legacy of the psychoanalytic tradition.  While the contribution of psychoanalytic thought to psychology is widely accepted, the acceptance of its relevance to the philosophical tradition has been more circumspect. Nevertheless, there is growing recognition that psychoanalysis offers important insights and perspectives on such age-old philosophical issues as agency, identity, language, emotion, and reason, etc.   Drawing on the work of Sigmund Freud as well as other noted psychoanalytic theorists such as Jacques Lacan and Julia Kristeva, this course will investigate key analytic concepts including the ontological nature of the unconscious, the decentered subject, the relationship between desire, ethics and sublimation, and idealization and identification. 

Prerequisite for this course is PHIL 205 or two courses in Psychology. This prerequisite can be waived if the instructor deems your background sufficient to succeed in the course. If you would like to enroll in the course but do not meet the formal prerequisite, please contact the instructor at kover@ualberta.ca and fill out the "Request for Waiver of Prerequisite" form available on our web page here.