History of Philosophy: The Empiricists

3 credits · Undergraduate

Modern philosophers (those working in the European tradition between, roughly 1600 and 1800 CE) can be divided into two schools: Empiricists, who believed that all knowledge ultimately rests on our sense experience; and Rationalists, who believed that all knowledge ultimately rests on reason alone. This course investigates the central ideas of Empiricist philosophers - especially, Locke, Berkeley and Hume - with an introduction to Kant. It will provide students with an overview of the central ideas and controversies in this school, such as the nature of ideas, personal identity, human agency, the nature of body, causation and induction. PREREQUISITES: One previous credit in philosophy or permission of the instructor FORMATS: Lecture | Discussion