Careful attention will be given to the primary texts of the most important philosophers of the 17th and 18th centuries including, but not limited to, Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, and Kant. One longer research paper or three shorter papers. This course may be used to fulfill the research writing requirement. The second half of the term will involve an examination of the views of a number of contemporary philosophers of science, using what we have learned about the goings on during the Copernican revolution to evaluate their claims about what doing science involves. For Kierkegaard, science is at best a game of chance.
Faith is both necessary and almost impossible to possess.
We live, according to Kierkegaard, in a world which demands of us leaps of faith at every turn. Reason is only faith's shadow, but a shadow that claims priority. We will undertake a close, collaborative reading of two of Kierkegaard's texts. Since the class will be conducted as a seminar with very little lecturing, students will have as active a role in this reading as the three faculty.