Course level: Undergraduate
Spring 2017 - Fall 2019
University of Notre Dame
In this course we will pursue answers to one of the most central questions: What is it to be a human? Or just: What makes you a human being? By engaging in a dialogue with major figures of the history of philosophy as well as with contemporary philosophers, we will discuss questions such as: What can I know? What do I believe? What may I hope? Am I a mind or a brain? Am I identical with my past and with my future self? What should I do? Am I really free? How can we alleviate the human condition? What matters for our social identity? And finally: What makes me the person I am?
Emphasis will be placed on attentive reading and discussion of seminal texts from, among others, Aristotle, Descartes, and Kant, as well as on developing and exercising a discussion culture in the classroom and a writing culture outside the classroom.
This class meets the University Requirement for first-year students.
Syllabus:
Syllabus_Introduction_to_Philosophy_ND_Fall2019_ONLINE
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