Philosophy

Western philosophy, although often concerned with practical questions such as how one ought to live, almost invariably restricts itself to theoretical methods of enquiry. This course examines other philosophical traditions, such as Zen Buddhism, that instead give great prominence to practical methods in the pursuit of their enquiries, most notably, breathing techniques and various forms of meditation. The course focuses on key philosophical issues raised by the adoption of non-theoretical modes of enquiry, including epistemological questions such as the justificatory status of non-alethic modes of knowledge-acquisition (e.g. meditation), and questions in the philosophy of mind concerning the conception of the Self developed and disclosed through meditation. The course also discusses ethical questions raised by a philosophical practice that appears to privilege individual attainment over socially shared commitments.

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to the issues, problems, and debates of the realm of political philosophy. It seeks to account for the origin and development of its main concepts and traditions, in the context of the respective historical and cultural frameworks in which these concepts and traditions take place.

This course introduces students to the key ideas, concepts and thinkers in the Western tradition which underpin the ways we approach the world in the different disciplines in the arts, from archaeology to literature, history to film, art to drama, religion to music. Students will have heard of Paul, Marx, and Freud, but may be less familiar with Connell’s arguments about gender, or Fanon’s writing on ethnicity. Students engage directly with the texts or images at the heart of the debate and gain a broad foundation in the ideas and concepts to understand the intellectual underpinnings of the Western approach to knowledge, wisdom, and truth.

The course explores the historical development of aesthetic thought from antiquity to modernity through the study of major philosophical texts. Students analyze the aesthetic theories and philosophical concepts developed by thinkers including Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Schiller, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. The course emphasizes close reading of primary sources, the historical and cultural contexts in which aesthetic ideas emerged, and the evolution of philosophical problems and terminology within the field of aesthetics. Through lectures, seminars, and text-based discussions, students develop skills in philosophical interpretation, historical contextualization, and scholarly research.

The course provides students with a survey of foundational topics in metaphysics. Topics include ontology (categories of being), the persistence and identity of material objects, the nature of properties, substances, events and absences, accounts of causation, time, personal identity, and free will. An emphasis is placed on critical examination of arguments for and against competing metaphysical views.