PHIL 220.001 – Modern Philosophy: Descartes to Hume

Instructor: Robert Smithson. This course meets MWF 9:05 – 9:55 a.m. in CW 103.

This course will introduce students to main philosophical questions and themes of the early modern period (from Descartes to Hume). Is there an external world? If so, what is the nature of material objects? How do material bodies interact? How do the material world and the mind interact? Does God exist? What is the source of our ideas? In this course, we will read selections from Rene Descartes, Elizabeth of Bohemia, John Locke, George Berkeley, Gottfried Leibniz, and David Hume.

Prerequisite: 1 PHIL course.