I think therefore I am? Modern Philosophy 1600-1800

Catalog description

Contemporary scientific consensus seems to be that the Universe is an infinitely large machine, and that, ultimately, everything in it – including us – can be explained mathematically. But where did these notions come from, and why should we believe them? Is this really how the world is, and how can we find out? We will trace the origin of these claims to the sixteenth century. René Descartes, the ‘father of modern philosophy’, proclaimed, “I think, therefore I am.” As one of the ‘Rationalists’ he argued that the world could be explained, mathematically, and through reason, alone. We will follow by investigating the ‘Empiricists’, who argued instead that the world could be known, if at all, only through experience. We will finish in the eighteenth century with Immanuel Kant, who claimed that the world as we know it is in some sense a product of our own minds. Prerequisites: EN 101 or EN 102 with a grade of C or better AND either PH 100 , PH 201 , PH 203 , or PH 207 with a grade of C or better.