PHIL 213: Modern Philosophy

In this course, students will be introduced to a range of important ideas, arguments, and theories advanced by such "modern" (17th-18th century) philosophers as Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, etc. Primary attention will be devoted to the so-called "rationalist" and "empiricist" traditions and the way these modern philosophical traditions considered fundamental questions about the nature of reality, human beings and our knowledge of both. Immanuel Kant's important critique of these traditions and the way his ideas influenced the development of subsequent philosophy also will be considered.