Philosophy has always been an active conversation rather than a collection of isolated ideas. This course explores how influential philosophers responded to one another across the centuries, engaging in intellectual debate about truth, ethics, knowledge and society. By placing each thinker within their historical and cultural context, participants will discover philosophy as a dynamic exchange of ideas that continues to shape contemporary thinking. The course also encourages participants to develop their own skills in reading and interpreting philosophical texts with greater confidence and insight. Suitable for newcomers and experienced philosophy students alike.

DELIVERY MODE

Face to face

COURSE RESOURCES

• Aristotle: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-causality/ or, https://iep.utm.edu/aristotle/
• Descartes: ttps://iep.utm.edu/aristotle/ or, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/
• Kant: https://iep.utm.edu/kantview/ or, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-transcendental-idealism/
• Zizek: https://iep.utm.edu/zizek/ or, https://ethics.org.au/big-thinker-slavoj-zizek/ 

COURSE OUTLINE

• Aristotle – (384 – 322 BCE) his powers of observing, classifying and explaining nature; his placing humankind in the centre of the universe (On The Soul)
• Descartes – (1641) Meditations (Meditation 2). How Descartes, in his pursuit of an absolute truth, transforms medieval philosophy from its Aristotelian organic approach to a methodical, mathematical approach.
• Kant – (1777) How Kant, in rejecting the scepticism of David Hume also transforms Descartes’s “I” into a self-sufficient transcendental “I”. But in doing so he also introduces a sense of limitation in human reason.
• Slavoj Zizek – (Contemporary) The importance of Descartes and German Idealism (Kant and Hegel, and others) in his approach to subjectivity (the “I”) and truth, as well as  his rejection of postmodernism and cynicism.
• Review – Where to from here? Why and how is philosophy a source of inspiration, courage and calm in our confused, calamitous and uncertain world? 

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

• Enjoy seeing philosophy as robust and energetic transformation of ideas
• Recognise the background to key themes and preoccupations in modern philosophy
• Understand the differences and continuities between key thinkers
• Approach contemporary issues from a philosophical perspective.