Philosophy attempts to gain insight into important questions about human life through posing questions and attempting to answer them with arguments. We will cover some of these problems from these groups: ethics, political philosophy, epistemology, or the study of knowledge, metaphysics, or study of the nature of reality, and the meaning of life in the face of death.

Students who complete the course will be familiar with some of the central ideas in philosophy. They will also have extensive experience at presenting their ideas in class discussions and developing analytical essays.

The materials make heavy demands on their readers’ analytical and interpretive skills. Our discussions and writing assignments will focus on the arguments in these works. That is where your analytical skills will come into play. Since we are reading works from different periods in history, we will also have to work hard at interpreting material that is written in ways that are unfamiliar and that reflects the concerns of different kinds of societies.

The syllabus has a schedule of topics for discussion, readings, and assignments; it also describes the standards for grades and other policies for the class. Registered students can find all other materials on Sakai.