|
|
|
Apr 16, 2024
|
|
Goucher College 2012-2013 Undergraduate Catalogue PLEASE NOTE: This is an archived catalog. Programs are subject to change each academic year.
|
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 different 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: two courses in philosophy (one at the 200- level), or permission of the instructor. Spring semester. Offered 2009-10 and alternate years. Welch.
|
|
|
