Topic: Knowledge, Self, and Freedom

(Note: the topic listed in schedule of classes is wrong.)

An introduction to some of the major questions of philosophy: (1)
What can we know?  Can we know whether there is a world outside of
our own minds?  Can we know what it is like?  (2) What is a person?
Am I just my body, or am I something else?  If something else, what?
What is the relation between my mind and my body?  What makes me the
same person over time?  (3) I am not just an object in the world; I
am - or so I think - capable of acting freely upon the world.  But do
we really have free wills?  Indeed, what is freedom?  Is our
understanding of ourselves as free compatible with a scientific
understanding of our nature and place in the world?

We will address these questions by studying the writings of
historical and contemporary philosophers, including Plato, Descartes,
Locke, Hume, and Sartre.  Course assignments will emphasize close
reading of texts, clear writing and careful argumentation.