PHIL 102

PHIL 102: Introduction to Philosophy: “Knowledge and Reality”
Instructor: Amy Schmitter

Course Description

Philosophy asks about the basic principles, assumptions and nature by which we approach the world around us and ourselves. Philosophy is also a practice, a practice of formulating questions, analyzing and clarifying concepts, giving reasons, and constructing and defending positions in answer to its questions. This course serves as an introduction to some of the problems and techniques in two main areas of philosophy: metaphysics (the study of being or reality) and epistemology (the theory of knowledge), along with related areas such as the philosophy of mind. Because it is an introductory survey, we will look at a variety of different issues and approaches; the aim is to develop the craft of asking questions and to refine our sense for what is question-able. The way we will do so is by examining selections from many different works by well-known philosophers, written over a period of about 2500 years, in a variety of languages, and from different regions of the world. Expect to do a fair amount of work: the reading is difficult and both active participation and an open mind are required.  But the rewards can be great.  If pursued properly, philosophy can help clarify, deepen and strengthen your thinking in many different ways. It will also build conceptual skills and discipline that will help in just about any field.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this course, students should:

  1. Be able to recognize and develop well-formulated philosophical questions, and to critique badly-formed or biased ones.
  2. Be able to identify many of the main questions in metaphysics, epistemology and related sub-fields, such as philosophy of mind and philosophy of religion.
  3. Be able to recognize a range of central concepts and distinctions in those fields, such as reality v. appearance, definitions, essences v. accidents, mind v. body, validity and soundness of arguments, belief v. knowledge, justification, teleology, genus v. species, skepticism, or others as is suitable to the readings and interests of the class.
  4. Be able to construct and analyze a variety of different kinds of arguments and argumentative forms, such as deductive arguments, arguments by analogy, reductios ad absurdum, etc., as well as to recognize (and avoid) some common formal and informal fallacies.
  5. Have improved their expository and analytical writing at every level.
  6. Be well-prepared for higher-level courses (200-level and above) in the history of philosophy, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of religion.

Note: This course has no prerequisites; Phil 101 is not a predecessor to this course.