PHIL 102 - History of Western Philosophy: Modern

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

European philosophy in the modern period confronts problems about how we can know about the world in response to transformative changes happening in the sciences. Accordingly, philosophers in the modern period grapple in new ways with questions such as: How are we able to learn about the world? Why does the world appear to us to be different than the way it really is? What is the difference between the way things appear to be and how they really are? Are there limits on what we can know about the world, or none at all? What is a mind, and what does it have to do with the body? What is the relationship between God and the world, if any? What’s the best balance between freedom, authenticity, and security? In this course, we study the philosophical conversations about these questions among philosophers including René Descartes, Elizabeth of Bohemia, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Margaret Cavendish, John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume. Kate Pendoley.

PHIL 101 is not a prerequisite for the course.

Two 75-minute periods.

Course Format: CLS