Philosophy 25B

The 17th century was a revolutionary period in Western philosophy. Medieval philosophy came to an end and (early) modern philosophy began. The purpose of this course is to understand the new and exciting ideas that emerged in this time period, and to see how they shaped our own intellectual world. We will study the primary texts of a number of important authors starting with René Descartes and ending with Immanuel Kant. This will give us a chance to think about some of the “big ideas” in philosophy: the existence of God, the concept of the human soul or mind, and our knowledge of the fundamental nature of reality.