Course Catalog

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HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY II: FROM RENAISSANCE TO MODERN (PL1200)

Formerly PL2022. This course aims to provide a solid and comprehensive grounding in modern philosophy focusing on the main issues and theories of late Renaissance philosophy, modern Rationalism and Empiricism, philosophies of the Enlightenment, Critical philosophy, modern Idealism, Phenomenology and some questions of analytic philosophy. It offers an introduction to the works of the major figures of this tradition.

HOW TO THINK: FORMAL LOGIC AND CAUSAL REASONING (PL1300)

Introduction basic tools of factual reasoning, so that you can make better arguments, assess the arguments of others, and recognize typical mistakes in our thinking. The course combines a systematic introduction to basic formal logic and argument analysis with an overview of fundamentals of causal reasoning, the basis for all empirical acquisition of new information.

POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (PL2003)

Political philosophy forms that branch of philosophy that reflects on the specificity of the political. Why are humans, as Aristotle argued, political animals? How are they political? What are the means and ends of the political, and how best does one organize the political with such questions in mind? The course offers a topic-oriented approach to the fundamental problems underlying political theory and practice.

METAPHYSICS, SCIENCE & RATIONALISM (PL2036)

This course explores the impact of modern science upon philosophy through an exploration of the fundamental texts of classical metaphysics - Descartes' Principles of Philosophy, Spinoza's Ethics, Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics and The Monadology - an examination guided by the question of what is it to act with freedom and grace in an infinite universe ruled by the laws of nature.

EMPIRICISM, SKEPTICISM & MATERIALISM (PL2037)

In this course we shall examine the birth of empiricism in polemics over the origins of knowledge and political authority, the limits of human reason, and the possibility of philosophy itself finding a way out of the seventeenth century's religious wars and tyranny towards the creation of free and tolerant societies of rational individuals. Readings from Descartes, Locke, Berkeley and Hume.

ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS (PL2041)

Introduction to ethics by the example of environmental ethics, exploring the role of humans as moral agents with regard to other living beings, the whole planet or its biosphere, and future generations. Through cases studies and to understand implicit assumptions and theoretical problems of standpoints taken by stakeholders in the debate.

PHILOSOPHY OF MIND (PL2070)

Systematic introduction to core questions of the philosophy of mind: What is consciousness? How
does the mind relate to the body? How does the mind relate to the world through perception, thought,
emotions, and actions? Case-based exploration of the consequences answers to these questions have
for our conception of, e.g., reality, social relations, moral values, and a person or self.

CRITIQUE OF POLITICAL ECONOMY (PL2071)

The course focuses on the impact of the emergent discipline of political economy on modern philosophy. A brief overview of the work of Adam Smith and David Ricardo will introduce the concerns of political economy before the course focuses on Karl Marx's attempt to re-orientate philosophy through the critique of political economy.

FREUD & NIETZSCHE (PL2072)

An introduction to one of the key orientations of modern philosophy: critical genealogy and its central problematic, the identity and formation of the subject. The aim of critical genealogy is to unearth the hidden and unsuspected mechanisms, whether institutional or familial, which lie behind the formation of individual and social identities.