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May 01, 2024
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Goucher College 2011-2012 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.
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PHL 337 - Descartes (3 Cr.)
Philosophers who study Descartes’ Meditations have concerned themselves with what has become known as the “Cartesian Circle,” namely, that the principle of clarity and distinctness that Descartes employs to validate God’s existence is itself in need of a guarantee that only God’s existence can provide. This course will examine three strategies that contemporary philosophers have offered to avoid the “Circle”: the autonomy of reason, partial autonomy of reason, and non-autonomy of reason with distinctions in the concepts of certainty and doubt. Prerequisite: either a 200-level philosophy course or permission of the instructor. Spring semester. Offered 2009-10 and alternate years. Welch.
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