PHI 220H - Constructing Our World and Ourselves

At the end of the 18th Century, Kant addressed the problem of skepticism by re-conceiving knowledge as a matter of human beings projecting our categories of understanding onto the world. In this course we will follow out the implications of this idea through the works of such Nineteenth-century European philosophers as Hegel, Marx, Kierkegaard, Schopenhauer, and Nietzsche. In particular, we will explore the ways in which several of these thinkers came to believe that we might well construct ourselves in the same way that we construct our world, thus paving the way for the Existentialist movement of the 20th Century. Note: This is the third course in our four-semester History of Philosophy sequence (the others are PHI 120H , PHI 140H and PHI 240H ) Courses in this sequence may be taken in any order. Course Typically Offered: Every 2 years in fall.

Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing, one course in Philosophy, or permission of the instructor

Credits: 4