Mar 29, 2024  
2021-2022 Catalog 
    
2021-2022 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

PHI 212 - Metaphysics


Instructor
Robb

In this course we think carefully and systematically about some of the most fundamental questions of existence: Why does anything at all exist? That is, why is there something rather than nothing? What explains the laws of nature? Why isn’t our world governed by a different set of laws, or no laws at all? Why is reality intelligible to us, so that science, for example, is even possible? Does our existence have a purpose, or is it ultimately meaningless? How could we be free and rational agents? Or are free will and agency an illusion? Throughout the course, naturalistic approaches are contrasted with theistic or dualistic alternatives. We will also at times pause to consider methodological issues: What is the goal of asking metaphysical questions? What counts as evidence for or against an answer? Is knowledge possible in this enterprise?”

Counts as an elective for the Philosophy major and minor.
Satisfies the Philosophical and Religious Perspectives requirement.
 

Prerequisites & Notes
(Fall)