PHIL 1660 - The Enlightenment Tradition and its Enemies

Goals: (1) To gain a sympathetic yet critical understanding of the views of the philosophers studied; (2) to gain an overview of the context and development of philosophical thought in this period; (3) to see how the philosophies of this period relate to issues and problems in contemporary life; and (4) to provide opportunities for reading, understanding, and responding to philosophical texts.

Content: Our “Modern” world was born with the revolutions which took place in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe: the scientific revolution and the political revolutions in England and France. In this course we will examine some of the answers given to questions raised by these events: How can we know anything for certain? What is the nature of the reality studied by the new sciences? What should be the relationship between Faith and Reason? And what justifies the power of the state over the individual? The writings of major figures in the Enlightenment tradition and its critics will allow us to explore several answers to these questions, and enable us to examine connections between the questions themselves.

Credits: 4