PHL 316 - Modern Philosophy and Its Other (4 Cr.)

(GCR Humanities and Interdisciplinary Studies area)

This course is an advanced introduction to the major figures of the modern (17th-18th C) European philosophical tradition, but it is also a critical investigation into the problems associated with teaching canonical texts. The ‘history of philosophy’ is the primary instrument for determining what is considered philosophical, but the consistency of this historical narrative is accomplished only through a series of massive exclusions. This course seeks to address this problem not only by including many excluded voices, but also by expanding the scope of how canonical texts are read so that any proper understanding of the ideas they contain requires an engagement with the voices and themes they omit. Approached in this way, not only will our understanding of modern philosophy change, but so too will our understanding of what constitutes philosophy as such. Prerequisite: Either one philosophy course, or permission of the instructor.