Philosophy

This course introduces five mainstream Chinese philosophical thoughts of Confucianism, Mohism, law, Taoism and Buddhism, and reflects on the theoretical gains and losses of traditional thoughts and contemporary significance from a critical perspective.

This course examines the historical beginnings of philosophy, especially (though not exclusively) in ancient Greece, and the developments some of its early forms underwent over the succeeding centuries within those traditions. It is also about how those philosophical traditions conceived of beginnings themselves: the beginnings of the world, its primary elements, and the first principles of philosophical enquiry.

This course examines the possibility and sources of our knowledge of other people’s and our own mental lives. The course begins with the classic mid-20th century debate on the "problem of other minds," and its development in more recent debates in cognitive science over mindreading. The course then turns to look at self-knowledge. The course considers introspection models, transparency approaches, and inferentialism. Finally the course discusses the phenomena of sexual objectification, hermeneutical injustice, and the social construction and regulation of emotion, and consider their relation to the themes of the course.

The course is aimed to introduce the basic concept of logic and teachs how to reason things in the world correctly. Two important parts of this course are to talk about deductive reasoning and to teach student to separate the concepts of cognitive language and emotional language.

This course examines some of the most influential conceptualizations of happiness in the Western tradition. We will consider, in detail, the work of Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics), J.S.Mill (Utlitarianism) and Freud (Civilisation and Its Discontents). This focus will allow us to explore a range of ideas about the nature of happiness and the possibility (or impossibility) of our achieving it. Particular emphasis will be placed on the ongoing influence of these conflicting ideas in our contemporary world.

This courses focuses on seven cities and moments in history where western culture has been especially significant for transformations affecting social and economic life. Each location includes a study of relevant philosophers. Topics include: Amsterdam 1650; Paris 1750; Jena 1800; Athens 400 B.C.E.; Vienna 1900; Berlin 1930; New York 1970.