Title: Philosophy of the era

Lesson plan elaborated by: Katarzyna Maciejak

Target group:

2nd‑grade students of a high school (old core curriculum) and 3rd‑grade students of a high school(new core curriculum).

Core curriculum

Core curriculum (old)

I. Receipt of statements and use of information contained.

1. Reading and listening. Student:

1. reads the meaning of the entire text (and in it the meanings of words, phraseological relationships, sentences, groups of sentences ordered in a paragraph, distinguishes real and etymological significance) and fragments separated by it; can explain their meaning and function on the background of the whole;

2. recognises the specificity of journalistic texts (article, column, reportage), political (speech) and popular science; it distinguishes between message and commentary among press texts; reads both explicit and hidden information contained in the received texts;

2. Self‑education and access to information. Student:

1) searches for literature useful for the development of various issues; selects it according to the indicated criteria (in library resources it uses both traditional book collection as well as multimedia and electronic records, including the Internet);

3. Linguistic awareness. Student:

1) analyses and defines (if necessary with the help of dictionaries) the meaning of words;

II. Analysis and interpretation of cultural texts.

3. Interpretation. Student:

2) uses contexts in the interpretation of the work (eg literary, cultural, philosophical, religious);

4. Values and evaluation. Student:

1) recognises the relationship between language and values, understands that the language is subject to valuation, (eg clear, simple, understandable, pictorial, beautiful language), is a valuation tool, and a source of cognition of values (values fixed in the meanings of values such as: good , truth, beauty, faith, hope, love, freedom, equality, brotherhood, God, honor, fatherland, solidarity, independence, tolerance);

3) sees in the world different hierarchies of values (eg equality and freedom, law and mercy) and understands the sources of conflicts of values;

III. Creating statements.

1. Speaking and writing. Student:

1) creates a longer written or spoken text (essay, review, lecture, interpretation of a literary work or fragment) in accordance with the basic rules of its organization, observing the principles of semantic and logical coherence;

7) performs various activities on the text of someone else (eg summarizes, paraphrases, draws up an outline, quotes).

Core curriculum (new)

I. Literary and cultural education.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

4) analyses the structure of the text: it reads its meaning, main thought, way of leading the argument and argumentation;

5) characterises the main philosophical trends and determines their influence on the culture of the era;

6) read philosophical views contained in various works; ZR

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

5) formulates theses and arguments in oral and written speech using appropriate syntax structures;

6) understands what is the logic and consistency of reasoning in argumentative statements and uses them in their own texts;

2. Speaking and writing. Student:

6) agrees with other people's views or polemicizes with them, substantively justifying their own opinion;

7) builds a statement in a conscious manner, with knowledge of its linguistic function, taking into account the target and the addressee, keeping the principles of rhetoric;

10) in the interpretation presents a proposal to read the text, formulates arguments based on the text and known contexts, including personal experience, and performs a logical argument for the validation of formulated judgments;

IV. Self‑study. Student:

1. develops the ability of independent work, inter alia, by preparing various forms of presenting their own position;

2. organises information into the problematic whole by valuing it; synthesizes the learned content around the problem, topic, topic and uses it in your statements.a

Key competences

• communication in foreign languages;

• digital competence;

• learning to learn.

Learning outcomes

Student:

• discusses the basic assumptions of the philosophy of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche;

• uses in statements and explains the concepts of decadentism, nihilism and nirvana;

• discusses the concept of superman.

Methods/techniques

• expository

  • talk.

• activating

  • discussion.

• programmed

  • with computer;

  • with e‑textbook.

• practical

  • exercices concerned.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• activity in pairs;

• activity in groups;

• collective activity.

Teaching aids

• e‑textbook;

• interactive whiteboard, tablets/computers.

Lesson plan overview

Before classes

1. The teacher asks selected pupils to bring memos to the lesson, referring to the character and thought of Artur Schopenhauer.

Introduction

1. The teacher states the subject of the lesson, explains the aim of the lesson and together with students determines the success criteria to be achieved.

2. The teacher asks if the students understand the words „decadent”, „decadentism”, „decadent”. Common determination of the semantic scope of words: determination of their contemporary, colloquial use (especially the adjective) and the meaning of the original.

Realization

1. The teacher or student chosen by the lesson presents the silhouette of Arthur Schopenhauer. Then the students read a fragment of the philosopher's text and explain the metaphors of life used by the author. They wonder if they know them from previous eras.

2. Students carry out exercise No. 3 in the abstract, checking the understanding of the philosopher's thoughts.

3. The student designated before the lesson presents his memes, which use the Schopenhauer character. Students discuss the features and functions of memes, and then formulate conclusions regarding the ways in which Schopenhauer's views function in everyday consciousness (task No. 4). Then in pairs, they form a thought that could become the slogan of the next meme.

4. The teacher or student selected before the lesson presents the figure of Friedrich Nietzsche and the basic assumptions of his philosophy. The students read a fragment of the text „That's Zarathustra thing” and they wonder who the person is and who the superman is. Students perform interactive task no. 6 - assign terms to appropriate groups (concepts related to nirvana and superman concept).

5. As part of the summary of the conversation about the two philosophers, students combine fragments of texts with their authors.

6. Students prepare a short argumentative text in which they justify whether they are closer to Schopenhauer's pessimism or Nietzsche's sense of superhuman power.

Summary

1. The teacher sums up the classes, asking questions about what is different and what links the two philosophers learned during the lesson.

2. The teacher asks a willing student to summarize the lesson from his point of view. He asks other students if they would like to add anything to their colleague's statements.

Homework

1. Listen to the abstract recording at home. Pay attention to pronunciation, accent and intonation. Learn to pronounce the words learned during the lesson.

2. Can suffering be needed for something? Consider in the form of a essay, referring to the philosophical concepts of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Philosophy of the era

The philosophy of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, analogically to earlier periods, had a great influence on literature and art. Artists reflected the mood, human anxieties and strivings in their creativity in a characteristic way, inspired by the works of great thinkers – Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche.

Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 – 1860) – German philosopher born in Gdansk. Although his main work entitled The world as will and representation was published for the first time in 1819, only at the end of the nineteenth century did it gain publicity and the status of obligatory reading among contemporary artists and intellectuals. Schopenhauer’s pessimistic and nihilistic views according to which human life is a band of suffering and disappointments, corresponded perfectly with the mood of the era. The philosopher claimed that our existence is governed by a blind drive that can never be satisfied. The happiness that each of us strives for is unachievable, and life, full of goals and desires, ends in an inevitable death. The absurdity of the complete torment of existence could be soothed, in the thinker's opinion, by religion, art and, above all, by the abandonment of all desires and needs. In this way Schopenhauer referred to the concept of nirvana originating from the philosophy of the East, which means a state of absolute peace, caused by the total negation of the will to live.

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) – not only a famous philosopher, but also a classical philologist, prose writer and poet, which was not without effect on the presentation of his thoughts, which often took the form of aphorisms. The views expressed in two most important works by the German thinker – Thus spoke Zarathustra (1883 – 1884) and Beyond good and evil (1886) – became a great inspiration for the artistic elite at the turn of the century. Nietzsche criticized the prevailing moral principles: he claimed that morality is a subjective matter, individual for each man and created by him. In his opinion, the most‑privileged group in society was the „race of masters”, superhuman – exceptionally strong and outstanding individuals. They were to serve as a leader for a crowd of „slaves”: weak, vulnerable, unable to achieve higher goals.