PHIL 102.003 – Introduction to Philosophy: Central Problems, Great Minds, Big Ideas

Instructor: Katie Deaven. This course meets MWF 10:10 – 11:00 a.m. in GL 301.

By now, you’ve probably come up against some philosophical question that didn’t have a clear answer. Can I actually trust the information I get from the news, experts, or those around me, and what, if anything, can I know about the world? Am I still at fault when something I do goes sideways, even if I didn’t mean for it to? What are gender and race, really? Am I the same person as the person who was born 19 years ago? What do I owe my country and the people around me, and what should I get in return? If God exists, why is the world such a mess?

This course invites you to investigate these big questions that people have been wrestling with for at least 2500 years. This isn’t to say that philosophy amounts to asking unanswerable questions or learning who gave what answers to which questions. Answers to these questions are easier to come by than you might think, and studying philosophy involves making arguments yourself—for example, evaluating proposed answers to questions like these and the reasons offered in their favor. Because of this, philosophy is more like a set of skills or a craft—one you already practice. So, instead of seeing this course as an introduction to a new subject, think of it as an invitation to refine and build on your ability to think, read, and write about complex, abstract topics and learn how to critically discuss these questions with others productively. 

https://catalog.unc.edu/undergraduate/ideas-in-action/communication-beyond/