Description

The best philosophers are unafraid to follow a line of reasoning wherever it might lead. Sometimes their reasoning leads them to surprising places. This course offers an introduction to philosophy by way of ten arguments that challenge us with bold, and sometimes unsettling, conclusions. Our survey covers philosophers from the Greek, Chinese, Buddhist, and Islamic traditions, as well as contemporary thinkers.

Course content:

• Session 1: Plato: Doing wrong is worse than being wronged
• Session 2 Zhuangzi: Relativizing rights and wrongs
• Session 3: The Milindapañha: There is no self
• Session 4: Ibn Tufayl: The discovery of God
• Session 5: David Hume: Causation isn’t real
• Session 6: Friedrich Nietzsche: Master morality and slave morality
• Session 7: Peter Singer: The drowning child
• Session 8: Amia Srinivasan: The right to sex
• Session 9: Myisha Cherry: The case for rage
• Session 10: Nick Bostrom: Are we living in a simulation?