Why take this course? Simple economics. With respect to time
(which, remember, is money!), philosophy is a bargain: it gives its
practitioners two-for-the-price-of-one. Philosophy is at once an
exploration of the world’s most extraordinary ideas, and an
enhancement of everyday reasoning skills. The two aspects work
closely together. By asking very hard questions (Do we have souls?
Is there a God? What is the Good?)  philosophy forces us to ‘ramp
up’ our reasoning abilities in order to handle such high-caliber
questions. By practicing philosophy, then, one gets interesting
answers, expanded abilities, or—in rare cases—both. What a deal!
The three questions we will examine, which will help us develop such
skills, are these:
(1) What is the world like?
	The more specific question under this general heading, upon
which we will focus, is “How free are we?” How can I be free to
choose if every choice I make is, say, caused by my genetics and
physical environment? How can I be free to ‘think what I like’
if ‘I’ am nothing over and above my brain and its neurochemical
goings-on? And if no one is free to choose and think as they will,
then how can anyone be morally responsible for what they do and
think? How can moral responsibility be in such a world at all?
2) What sorts of things can we know, and how?
	Whether in science or everyday life, our beliefs about the
way the world is are often fantastically wrong. And when we are
wrong in this way, we usually don’t know we’re wrong—that is, we
don’t know we don’t know. Question: could this be our position all
the time? Might we, right now, with respect to the things about
which we are surest, be flat-out ignorant of the way things really
are? And if we are, how could we tell?
3) What sorts of things should we do and not do, and why?
	Philosophy is often derided as ‘impractical’; but what is
more practical than studying what one should do? First, we’ll get
clear on what we mean by ‘should’? Consider: is ‘should’ working the
same in the statements, “I should get money for college” and “I
should not kill people to get it”? Doubtful. Second, where does the
authority of the specifically moral ‘should’ come from? God? The
State? The structure of human reason? And how might we make moral
decisions differently, given different ideas about the source of the
moral ‘should’?
	Assigned daily readings on these subjects will reward the
careful reader. Quizzes, discussion, and papers will be designed to
bring out the essentials at issue, and examine, compare, and
challenge the various answers some of the world’s best thinkers have
offered. Throughout the course attention will be paid to the way in
which an answer to one of the above questions has implications for
our answers to the others.