METAPHYSICS, SCIENCE & RATIONALISM in Fall 2023 (PL2036)

This course explores the impact of modern science upon philosophy through an exploration of the fundamental texts of classical metaphysics - Descartes' Principles of Philosophy, Spinoza's Ethics, Leibniz's Discourse on Metaphysics and The Monadology - an examination guided by the question of what is it to act with freedom and grace in an infinite universe ruled by the laws of nature.

Course Master:

METAPHYSICS, SCIENCE & RATIONALISM (PL2036)

Term:

Fall 2023

Discipline:

PL (Philosophy)

Credits:

4 credits

Type:

Regular

Level:

Undergraduate

Can be taken twice for credit?:

Exam Date:

Monday, December 18, 2023 - 12:30

Pre-requisites:

None

Co-requisites:

None

Professor(s)

Oliver Feltham

Learning Outcomes

Define concepts and explain theses or positions developed by philosophers in response to fundamental questions of metaphysics. Critically reconstruct and diagram the key steps in an argument, or in the construction of a major concept, by means of the textual analysis of a work in the tradition of metaphysics
Draft, write and rewrite a clearly organized and well-argued philosophical essay that poses a question and develops an answer to that question through the critical interpretation of a work in the tradition of metaphysics
Stand up in class and without looking at one’s notes, speak clearly and succinctly when explaining the stakes of a problem or question in metaphysics
Be able to place the philosophers taught in the course correctly and pertinently on a timeline, and in relation to four major historical, political or scientific events, during the epoch of European modernity

Syllabus

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Book List

Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN Number
DESCARTES: SELECTED PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS.	Descartes	CAMBRIDGE	9780521358125
Philosophical Essays	G.W.Leibniz	Hackett	9780872200623
ETHICS	SPINOZA	Cambridge	9781107655638

Schedule

Start Date:

Monday, September 4, 2023

End Date:

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

Day	Start Time	End Time	Room
Monday	12:10	13:30	PL-1
Thursday	12:10	13:30	PL-1