Course: Theory of institutions

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Course title Theory of institutions
Course code KFHS/K511
Organizational form of instruction Lecture + Seminary
Level of course Master
Year of study 2
Semester Winter
Number of ECTS credits 5
Language of instruction Czech
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Lecturer(s)
  • Moural Josef, doc. RNDr. CSc.
Course content
1. Introduction. Basics according to Moural (2002), two versions of the core theory. 2. Searle (1995), introduction and Chap. 1. Status function assignment, collective intentionality, constitutive rules. 3. Searle (1995), Chap. 2. Performatives, context, priority of social action over social objects. Money. 4. Searle (1995), Chaps. 4-5. Action-focused version. Modalities, iterativity, codification, deontics, maintenance. 5. Searle (1995), Chap. 3, and Moural (2008). Institutions and language: Searle's exposition, its criticism and the solution of difficulties. 6. Searle (1995), Chap. 6, a Searle, Moural (2001). Enigmatic role of the Background, tension between this chapter and Chaps. 1-5. 7. Smith's objection of 'free-standing Y-terms' and its solution by Moural 2003 and Searle 2010. 8. Action theory in Searle 2001. Prior intention, intention-in-action, carrying-on. 9. Modified exposition in Searle 2010. Critical examination. 10. Institutions and ethics: with use of Tugendhat 2004. 11.Institutions and politics, according to Moural 2020. Institutions as forming trajectories of possible action, and hence the space of human liberty. 12. Conclusions: revision, applications. Institutions and crisis.

Learning activities and teaching methods
unspecified, unspecified
Learning outcomes
The course provides reliable knowledge of the Searlean theory of institutions, which is becoming an important tool for studying the entire problematics of social sciences and humanities. The course is supplemented by a survey of the theory's application in political theory and ethics.
Students are able to prepare their own teaching on the course topics (some 20 hours altogether) and to proceed with further studying primary and secondary literature.
Prerequisites
None

Assessment methods and criteria
unspecified
Contents studied on the basis of the Opora (including the required reading, together in the extent of about 260 pages). Oral exam (based on list of exam topics).
Recommended literature
  • Moural, J. Negativní svoboda ve světle teorie institucí. Politické vedy. 2020.
  • Searle, J. Making the Social World. Oxford, 2010.
  • Searle, J. The Construction of Social Reality (kap. 1-6). London, 1995.
  • Tugendhat, E. Přednášky o etice. Praha, 2004.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester