Philosophical Perspectives 2

Course Description

This sequence considers philosophy in two lights: as an ongoing series of arguments addressed to certain fundamental questions about the place of human beings in the world and as a historically situated discipline interacting with and responding to developments in other areas of thought and culture. Readings tend to divide between works of philosophy and contemporaneous works of literature, but they may also include texts of scientific, religious, or legal practice.

This section explores metaphysical and epistemological questions as they confronted participants and spectators of the 'scientific revolution'. Problems of skepticism, self-understanding and the social status of knowledge are at the fore. Authors tend to include Descartes, Newton, Voltaire, and Mary Shelley, among others.

Course Criteria

Instructor(s)

Thomas Kaspers