Philosophy

This course examines works by various philosophers who present dramatically different conclusions concerning the following questions. Is knowledge merely justified true belief? Could it be that we are living in the Matrix? Are we really justified in believing in the way the world is? Do I have a soul that can be separated from my body? Is my mind just my brain? Is my mind merely something like a computer program? Can there be perfect zombies, which are not distinguishable from normal human beings by their appearance and behavior but somehow have no minds? Does a perfect robot (which is indistinguishable from normal human beings by its appearance and behavior) have a mind? Are we free to make choices? Does the total past and present determine the future? If so, are we free to make choices or to bring about different futures? If not, what’s the point of scientific prediction about the matters like whether it will rain tomorrow? Is it possible to travel back into the past and kill your grandfather before he gave birth to your father? Is it morally wrong to tell a lie to make other people happy when there is no negative consequence in any way? 

Through the explanation of the Zhouyi, students learn the Zhouyi and its philosophical connotation, as well as the status and significance of the Zhouyi in the history of Chinese philosophy, thought, and culture. The course also provides an overview of the latest research related to Zhouyi studies. It also examines and analyzes the philosophy in the "Book of Changes."

We are accustomed to encountering ‘the sceptic’ as a hypothetical adversary to overcome. The ancient world, however, presents us with a rich variety of philosophers who lived their scepticism – advancing it as a viable and attractive way of life, and developing detailed systems and defences of their positions. Others attacked such sceptics and their scepticisms, and a lively debate raged. In this course, students explore these varieties of sceptical and anti-sceptical thought in the Pre-Socratic philosophers Xenophanes and Democritus, the towering Classical figures of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the Hellenistic schools of Academic and Pyrrhonian scepticism and, finally, in the anti-sceptical treatises of Augustine and Al-Ghazali.

This course examines basic theories of justice and key ethical principles (like precautionary principle, equality) are discussed and related to relevant topics in current society. Climate change and poverty will be particulary addressed. 
 

Normative Theories are theories about how we ought to act, or how we ought to live. This course examines different traditions in, and approaches to, normative theorizing. These may include some or all of Consequentialism, Deontological Pluralism, Kantianism, Contractualism, and Virtue Ethics, as well as Particularism and other anti-theoretical approaches. The course takes some approaches to normative ethics and examines them in detail, assessing how well they do at explaining and justifying moral beliefs (and questioning the extent to which this is a legitimate constraint upon them). It also examines how these theories apply to particular moral questions such as those connected to procreation, duties to future people, aggregating harms and benefits to different people, and imposing risks of harm.

Science never stands still, and for some time now, there appears to be a growing shift in intellectual enquiry and discovery toward more cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary thinking. This course takes this observation as a starting point. In doing so, emphasizes the value of scientific inquiry across different academic domains and of its fundamental relevance to societal developments. Such awareness can only be developed by first getting a basic understanding of how scientific inquiry works. To achieve this, the course has three aims that are more specific. The first is to introduce students to scientific thought, language, and behavior and their relation to human progress. In this context, it becomes clear that academic, scientific, and intellectual work interacts with political, social, and moral change, which in turn often starts with scientific inquiry. The second aim is to develop and apply scientific inquiry skills. The third aim is teaching Liberal Arts & Science students to recognize how they can become part of this change in scientific and human progress that scientific inquiry brings about and possibly even lead it. In order to do so, throughout the course, emphasis lies on recognition of past, present, and (possible) future scientific works (theory and applications) grounded in enlightenment.

This course provides an introduction to critical analysis of the history of western thought by examining classical questions and debates in philosophy and gender studies. It explores philosophy through the perspective of gender.

This course introduces students to the key texts, arguments, and controversies in European political thought from ancient Greece to the end of the 17th century. This is based on the close reading of classic and complex texts, situated in their broader intellectual and historical context. A single canonical thinker – such as Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Hobbes or Locke – will typically be central to each week’s teaching, but these thinkers are read in relation to the political environments that shaped them and the debates in which they participated. Where possible these key thinkers are considered alongside the work of other thinkers as well as other relevant primary texts. Students explore the early development of key ideas and issues – such as kingship, natural rights’, republicanism, and the relationship between church and state – that have formed, and continue to form, the conceptual bedrock of Western social and political debate.