Summer 2026 Session D

Undergraduate courses

2  Individual Morality and Social Justice. Nakazawa. MTuWTh 12-2, Wheeler 122.

3  The Nature of Mind. Wang. TuWTh 1-3:30, Wheeler 104.

12A  Introduction to Logic. DeBrine. TuWTh 10-12:30, Wheeler 104.

25B  Modern Philosophy. Tanaka. MTuWTh 10-12, Dwinelle 205.

132  Philosophy of Mind. Levac. TuWTh 10-12:30, Wheeler 224.

187  Special Topics in the History of Philosophy. Schneider. TuWTh 1-3:30, Dwinelle 88.

Reason and its limits: Kant on the Soul, the World, and God

Few works in philosophy can claim an impact far-reaching enough to influence our everyday way of thinking. According to some, Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason has achieved this most likely because it banished certain questions—such as Is the soul immortal? Does the world have a beginning? Does God exist?—beyond our grasp.

In this course, we will focus on this banishment. Why does Kant think that we cannot have knowledge of the soul, the world as a whole, and God? And why does he think that reason involves itself in contradictions and confusions?

We will read passages from all parts of the Critique, but our main focus will be on the section in which Kant lays out his conception of reason, the Transcendental Dialectic.