Early Modern Philosophy

In this course, we will study a variety of texts from the 16th through the 18th centuries, representing the philosophical traditions of Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. We will seek to understand these in their historical and cultural context, while also seeking to discern what lessons they might hold for contemporary metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and philosophy of mind. The course combines close primary-text readings from early modern texts with excerpts and discussions from contemporary writings in philosophy, literature, and art history to provide a comprehensive and global view of theories in the early modern period.