Philosophy 25B

This course provides a survey of some of the works of six major figures central to the development of philosophical thought in the early modern period: Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant. We will focus on these figures’ work in the areas of metaphysics and epistemology and trace the development of particular philosophical problems and ideas through each figure. Questions we will be examining include: What is the mind, and what is its relation to the body? What is God? What does perception reveal, and what are its limits? What can we know through the faculty of reason alone? We will consider these and other questions, and how they were approached, both within their historical contexts and as they stand on their own.