Modern Philosophy

Critical examination of the philosophical traditions and developments of the 17th and 18th centuries. The two main traditions of this era, British empiricism, which stressed the role of sense experience in the knowing process, and continental rationalism, which emphasized human reason, both sought secure foundations for scientific, ethical and religious knowledge. The advance of these traditions will be traced through selected readings from major figures, Descartes and Leibniz (on the rationalist side), Locke and Hume (on the side of empiricism). Includes a careful consideration of Kant’s Copernican Revolution, synthesizing these great traditions, and its implications for the postmodern world. Prerequisites: PHIL 171, 201