This course is an in-depth examination of some of the major works of
two key figures in modern Western thought, Immanuel Kant and G.W.F.
Hegel.
The aim is to become familiar with the particular conceptual
worldview of each thinker, especially in terms of the following
general “problems of modernity”: questions concerning the nature of
selfhood and community, morality, the relationship between religion
and reason (the religious and the secular), the meaning of the
political and the natural, and the problem of modernity itself. The
concept of religion will play a key role in our discussion in so far
as both Kant and Hegel consider it to be a significant dimension of
their metaphysical, moral, and political views. Our task will be to
assess the nature of this concept for each thinker, how it fits into
their projects as a whole, and what kinds of connections it has to
other ways of thinking about religion, and to other ways of
conceiving human values, e.g., rationally, politically, and
aesthetically. The course will proceed through close readings and
discussions of the texts. It will be advantageous to have some
familiarity with modern philosophy and/or religious thought.