PHIL 102 - History of Western Philosophy: Modern

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

102a: Descartes inaugurated modern philosophy by turning philosophical attention away from questions about what the world is like and directing it onto the question: how is it possible for us to know what the world is like? He made this question urgent by offering arguments that suggest that we cannot know what the world is like – arguments suggesting that there is an unbridgeable gap between the mind and the material world. We will carefully examine the ways in which Descartes himself, Hume, and, finally, Kant, seek to answer these arguments and bridge the gap that Descartes’ arguments open up. We will see how their various approaches to this task shape and are shaped by their conceptions of the human mind, the material world, the relation of the mind to the human body, and the nature of the ‘self.’ No pre-requisites. Mr. Seidman.

102b: We will primarily study the epistemology and metaphysics of the modern period from Descartes through Kant. This was a period of great advancement and controversy in the sciences that made many philosophers question existing preconceptions of how knowledge ought to be acquired and how the material world was intelligible to humans. The advancement also revealed a deep insecurity about the role of God in the world given the scientific theories of the day. We will look at how some central philosophers of the period responded to these controversies and insecurities, including Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. Mr. Lam.

PHIL 101 is not a necessary prerequisite for the course.

Two 75-minute periods.