Welcome!

This course will introduce students to some of the topics that philosophers discuss and to the ways they go about discussing them. It will mostly consider contemporary texts, but draw on historical sources where relevant.

Some questions we will explore include: What do we mean when we make moral claims? Why be moral? Is eating meat morally acceptable? Do we have a duty to donate to charity? What are the main sources of our knowledge? Can skeptical arguments successfully show that we do not have any knowledge? What are the best arguments for and against the existence of God?

In the course of examining these topics, we will focus on developing various philosophical skills, including: reading a text to find the main arguments and conclusions and analyzing the strengths and weakness of arguments.