What Is Philosophy?

An introductory course in philosophical methods as
well as contemporary issues.
Philosophy is both an historical product of the
Western tradition and a critical tool of inquiry
that changes over time and within different
contexts. This course will be concerned with
introducing students to the foundations of
philosophy and exposing them to key issues
addressed in philosophy. The course is divided
into three main sections, each engaging with a
different aspect of the discourse.
The first section will focus on the questions: How
do we define philosophy? What constitutes
philosophical thinking? Does philosophical inquiry
(e.g. inquiry into rationality or logic) differ
from knowledge in general? How can philosophy be
defined in terms of its 'function' and 'reason'?
In the second section of the course we will
examine how philosophy defines some of its key
problems, such as solipsism, objectivity, the
mind-body problem, free will, moral and aesthetic
judgments and other topics. In the third section,
we will examine philosophical positions such as
empiricism, idealism, positivism, relativism and
pragmatism.
All the required readings are in the book and/or
will be given as handouts. A student must not miss
more then three classes without a medical note.
There will be a class assignment, a mid-term paper
and a final paper.

Main text: Thinking it Through: An Introduction to
Contemporary Philosophy by Kwame Anthony Appiah.