We will talk about problems in five areas of philosophy.
Ethics is the study of good, bad, right, and wrong. We will talk about two questions in ethics. What are our obligations to people in need? Is there a right to abortion?
Political philosophy addresses questions about the state. We will take up three topics in this area. Why are we obliged to obey the state? What is the purpose of the state? How should the state’s power be used against individuals?
Epistemology is the study of knowledge. We will talk about our knowledge of mathematical objects, ethical values, and God. We will also talk about whether inductive reasoning, that is, drawing conclusions about the future based on the past, can be justified or not.
Metaphysics concerns the nature of reality. We are especially interested in one important part of reality: people! One question about people is whether they have special abilities to determine their behavior that other things seem to lack. That is, do we have free will? Another kind of question concerns personal identity. What makes you the same person now as you were in the past?
Finally, we will talk about the meaning of life and death. Can we show that life has meaning and, if we cannot, does that matter? Is death something to be feared or is it just like the eternity before you were born? Would immortality be desirable? And what do we really care about when we think about what will happen after we die?
These are all big questions and, if we are doing it right, you will be able to return to what we talk about throughout the rest of your life.
One important thing to know about philosophy is that it is chiefly concerned with arguments. That means the main thing we evaluate is the relationship between assumptions, which are sometimes called premises, and conclusions. The chief question is “does the conclusion follow from the premises?” which means “would the chain of reasoning that goes through the premises show that the conclusion is correct, assuming that the premises are accurate?”
A hard thing to do is to reject an argument for a conclusion that you accept. You can believe that a conclusion is correct while not thinking that a particular argument establishes that it is correct.
It is even harder to admit that an argument for a conclusion that you disagree with is correct. But that is possible! Maybe one of the assumptions that the argument makes is wrong. That might lead, in a valid, reasonable way, to a conclusion that is also wrong.