Course Description
This course offers an introduction to modern philosophy, starting with Descartes and ending with Nietzsche. It examines how modern philosophy has grappled with a fundamental question about how we know what we know: what makes something true? How can we be certain? Medieval European thought relied on the authority of Christian doctrine as a criterion for truth; in the Renaissance, this authority began to show limitations, and the emergence of modern science suggested new potential criteria. Fundamental texts like Bacon's Advancement of Science, Montaigne's Essays, and Descartes' Meditations all contribute to this shift in standards. However, the search for new standards presented difficulties of its own, and the resulting issues define the terrain for centuries to come. Enlightenment texts like Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Hume's Enquiry, and finally Kant's Critique of Pure Reason address the dilemmas of their predecessors, while attempting to secure solid foundations for knowledge about the world and about ourselves. The course will conclude with selections from Nietzsche, who looks back critically on the consequences of the quest for certainty. Together we'll explore the legacy of these texts: how they continue to shape our contemporary understanding of scientific truth, as well as our ideas about knowledge in the broadest sense.
Expectations
Students will come to class having read the material and prepared to ask questions about it. Students taking the course for a letter grade will write a short (3-4 pgs) paper on a topic we can decide on together.
Readings
I’m afraid I’ve made the readings for each week somewhat complicated. For most weeks, there will be three versions of the reading assignment:
1. The “standard” reading: what I’d really love for you all to be able to read.
2. The “In a Hurry?” reading, for those of you who just wished they had more time, but simply don’t.
3. The “Can’t Get Enough? ” reading, for those of you who had no idea they would love this stuff so much, and simply have to have more immediately. We generally won’t be covering this final reading suggestion in class, so it might also serve as a suggestion for what to read after the class is complete.
Course Textbooks
The required text for the course is:
Modern Philosophy: An Anthology of Primary Sources,edited by Roger Ariew, Eric Watkins (Hackett Pub., 2nd Edition, 2009) [ISBN: 978-0872209787]
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Optional texts include Friedrich Nietzsche's The Gay Science (Vintage Books, 1974); there may be others I will suggest as the course progresses.