Empiricism and Early Modern Philosophy
PHIL 251B | Fall 2024
This course surveys empiricism and its place in early modern philosophy. Stimulated by the rise of experimental science, empiricism radicalized the notion of experience by arguing that it provides the exclusive basis for knowledge. This position spawned numerous controversies regarding the nature of mathematical and logical truths, the boundaries of science itself, and the existence of the soul.
Hegel
PHIL 483M | Winter 2024
Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit is one of the most ambitious and monumental works in the history of philosophy. It transformed the intellectual landscape of the 19th century and continues to inspire thinkers in both the continental and analytic traditions. This seminar will examine its account of the history of consciousness and its repercussions for metaphysics, epistemology, and social and political philosophy.
Žižek
PHIL 483M | Fall 2022
Žižek is one of the most influential philosophers alive today. This seminar will explore his unique synthesis of psychoanalysis and German Idealism into a new dialectical materialism. Topics include his provocative theses about the death drive of human nature, the origins of consciousness in a biological maladaptation, and the ideology of everyday life.
Rationalism and Early Modern Philosophy
PHIL 251A | Winter 2022
This course surveys rationalism and its place in early modern philosophy. In an age of great uncertainty caused by the confrontation between religion and science, rationalism sought an unassailable foundation for knowledge that would make philosophy a science that rivals mathematics. We will explore its divergent metaphysical systems such as dualism, pantheism, and vitalism.
Joseph Carew 