Auxiliary Courses, Year 1 - Semester 1
Updated for 2019/2020: These units are suggested as
possible options
but do not form a closed list, being viable others from ULisboa,
suggested by the students, provided they are relevant for the goals
defined for the PhD and validated by the Scientific Commission.
These units are not exclusive for students of the Cognitive Science
program and may have limited capacity, and be taught only in
Portuguese.
For timetables and further details, please check courses web pages or
inquire the corresponding department. N.B.: The auxiliary course 1 is
worth 6 ECTS.
Department of Philosophy
This course consists in an introduction to the most basic concepts, techniques and problems of the following segments of modern formal logic: propositional logic, quantification theory and identity theory. We consider the following aspects of these logical theories: (a) the semantics for the logical constants involved therein – truth-functional sentence operators, quantifiers and the identity predicate – and a semantic notion of validity for the associated inferences; (b) the natural deduction rules – introduction and elimination rules – for those logical constants and a syntactic notion of validity for the associated inferences.
Department of Philosophy
This course consists in an introduction to the main concepts, theories and problems of contemporary epistemology. The following topics are examined: (a) What is knowledge? Is knowledge analysable as justified true belief? Gettier’s counter-examples. Or is knowledge a primitive mental state (Williamson)?; (b) Sources of knowledge. A priori knowledge, perception, testimony and memory; (c) Justification. Foundationalism and coherentism. Internalism and externalism; (d) The problem of scepticism. What is scepticism? Varieties of scepticism. The problem of induction.
Department of Informatics
Introduction to object oriented programming using Java as a programing language. Topics: Concept of algorithm and programing language, memory, and data types. Control flux, Java instructions, structured programing. Types by reference: Arrays and Classes. Class, object, method, attribute and other relevant concepts for object oriented programing. Exceptions. Assertions and contracts. Data input and output: text and bynaru files.
General Pharmacology
Faculty of Medicine
It is aimed that the student will recognize the main mechanisms of drug action, looking at drugs as tools to interfere with cellular and molecular pathways in scientific research. Since the course is common to students of the 1st cycle of Medicine, the therapeutic applications of drugs will be focused, namely in the control of the Autonomic Nervous System, of the Endocrine System, of Pain and of microbial infections.
Faculty of Psychology
Aims: 1. To become familiar with basic research characteristics in Science and Psychology and have a favourable attitude towards scientific research. 2. To become familiar with the basic characteristics of the different research methods used in Psychology with particular emphasis on experimental methods. 3. To become familiar with the characteristics of research deontology in Psychology and to have a favourable attitude towards their application within the framework of a humanistic perspective of science. 4. To display competences in the critical evaluation of research in scientific and deontological terms and to have a favourable attitude towards their application. 5. To display basic competences in the planning, accomplishment and scientific writing of a research project.
Faculty of Psychology
Main Aim: To provide students with a conceptual map of Social Cognition. The specific themes included in the program will be fundamental from a conceptual point of view and/or highly relevant for the development of research in this subject. Other aims: i) Acquisition of basic knowledge on some of the main theoretical approaches in Social Cognition and the main bibliographical resources available. ii) Acquisition of theoretical and practical knowledge that will enable the adoption of an active and critical attitude towards research in Social Cognition. This adoption of a critical attitude assumes: the ability to compare different approaches with regard to a substantive field of Social Cognition, the ability to examine the empirical back-up of these different approaches, the ability to reflect on the limitations of the research carried out and the ability to formulate problematic issues for future research.
Department of Linguistics
In this course we will deal with the lexicon of natural languages, its nature, its internal structure and how it relates to the other domains of grammar. We will discuss the speakers’ lexicon and their lexical knowledge, as well as some particular issues concerning the lexicon of Portuguese, its formation, development and use. Furthermore, we will present a description of lexical units, as far as their inherent and selectional properties are concerned, based upon a formal model of information representation. Finally, we will discuss several kinds of lexical relationships.
Department of Linguistics
Some of the central topics of the course syllabus are: basic notions about Text, text diversity with respect to function and content, key factors of text cohesion, textuality and grammaticality, reference chains, indeterminate reference, sentential connections (syntactic and semantic aspects), analysis of text structure. Text Linguistics is an introduction to the study of texts as linguistic objects and as communicational objects. Students are expected to identify the key aspects of text cohesion and to recognise structural deficiencies, regarding both content and form.
Department of Linguistics
This course offers an introduction to the study of the principles of sentence formation in natural languages, with a particular focus on Portuguese. Students are expected to identify the way words combine inside the sentences and the constituents of sentences. Work will focus on the ability to analyze linguistic data, to describe relevant contrasts with an adequate metalanguage and to discuss hypotheses for explaining linguistic puzzles.
Department of Linguistics
This course offers an introduction to the study of meaning in natural languages, with a particular focus on Portuguese. Students are expected to identify the key components of meaning at the sentence level and to understand how compositionality works when sentence constituents are combined. Some meaning systems will be analyzed in more thorough detail. Work will focus on the ability to analyze linguistic data, to describe relevant contrasts with an adequate metalanguage, to diagnose structural anomaly and to discuss hypotheses for explaining linguistic puzzles.