PHIL 230.001 – Experience and Reality

Instructor: Caspar Wilson. This course meets MW 8:00 – 9:15 a.m. in CW 103.

This course covers several views on the nature of reality and the way in which the mind relates to it. Topics will include: Can we know about the external world? Can the world be radically different from how we take it to be? What must reality be like if we can learn about it through experience? How do we relate to the world in thought, with language and in perception? What is the nature of representation? What is the nature of illusion and hallucination?

In this course students will develop their analytical methods and their interpretive skills as many of the topics will be introduced via classic philosophical texts.