GRAD TUTORIAL: Principle of Sufficient Reason

Catalog description

Tutorial taught by grad student. Limited to 10 students. The Principle of Sufficient Reason (PSR) stands as one of the controversial yet intriguing metaphysical principles in the history of philosophy, asserting that everything must have a reason, ground, cause, or explanation.Throughout this course, we will delve into the various versions of PSR, spanning from pre-modern philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle to modern philosophers like Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Du Châtelet, Kant, and Jacobi. We'll explore how they received their predecessors' views on PSR and linked the principle to important philosophical notions such as truth, substance, God, and reason. Towards the end of the class, we will also discuss the contemporary reception of the principle. Readings will primarily be drawn from primary texts, supplemented occasionally by secondary literature.