Course Information Overview
Course Description
This course satisfies the "Philosophy and Religion" (C-3) section of the General Education Program. Courses in this section are designed to promote critical reflection on questions concerning the nature, meaning, and value of human existence, the world in which we live, and our relations with one another. Students should understand the sources and limits of knowledge, and they should appreciate and be able to assess different world views and moral teachings that have played central roles in human culture.
More specifically, this course is designed as an introduction to the rise of modern science and its impact on philosophic thought of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Our primary task will be to understand the metaphysical and epistemological problems of the Rationalists (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz), the Empiricists (Locke, Berkeley, Hume) and the synthesis of these traditions in the critical philosophy of Kant. Lectures and discussion will take the form of a critical evaluation of classical modern philosophy from Descartes to Kant with particular attention to the notions of 'cause' and 'substance.'
Course Requirements
1. Two Exams--@ 20% each--40%
2. Short Paper (5 pages) --20% Due date: 12th week of semester. (See "Writing Philosophical Papers," by McHenry in Reflections on Philosophy, (Longman 2003)
3. Participation/Attendance/Punctuality--10%
4. Final Exam, comprehensive but concentrating on final sections of the course--30%
The plus/minus grading system will be used, i.e., A, A-, B+, B, B-….
Tentative Course Outline
1. Introduction to Modern Philosophy.
Scientific Background to the Modern Period; origins of the 17th century cosmology-- Democritus, Aristotle and the Scholastics, Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo.
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, pp. 297-315.
Video: "The Day the Universe Changed: Science Revises the Heavens," James Burke
2. Descartes- the Father of Modern Philosophy
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, pp. 316-332.
Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy in History of Modern Philosophy, pp. 1-35.
"The Princess and the Philosopher: Descartes' Correspondence with Princess Elizabeth of Bohemia, 16 May - 28 June 1643" (handout)
3. Spinoza- the Prophet of Oneness
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, pp. 350-365.
Spinoza, Ethics (Parts I and II) in History of Modern Philosophy, pp. 35-77.
EXAM 1
4. Leibniz- a Diplomat Among Philosophers
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, 383-394.
Leibniz, The Discourse on Metaphysics and The Monadology in History of Modern Philosophy, pp. 79-110.
5. Locke- On the Origin and Limits of Knowledge
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, pp. 369-382.
Locke, selections from An Essay Concerning Human Understanding in History of Modern Philosophy, pp. 111-256.
6. Berkeley- Idealist Empiricism
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, pp. 395-410.
Berkeley, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in History of Modern Philosophy, pp. 257-323.
EXAM 2
7. Hume- Skeptical Empiricism
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, pp. 411-437.
Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding in History of Modern Philosophy, pp. 325-392.
8. Kant- the Critical Philosophy
Required Reading:
A New History of Philosophy, pp. 448-470.
Kant, selections from The Critique of Pure Reason in History of Modern Philosophy, pp. 393-463.
REVIEW SESSION
FINAL EXAM