Rene Descartes and Baruch Spinoza are two of the most defining figures of the early modern period, ushering in distinctively modern conceptions of the self.  Both thinkers presented radically-new conceptions of mind, body, and humans’ relationship to the world around them.  This course will explore questions regarding knowledge, certainty, mind-body dualism, reason, and passion.

Texts:

Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, translated by Donald A. Cress

Baruch Spinoza, The Essential Spinoza, Ethics and Related Writings, edited by Michael L. Morgan, with the Translations of Samuel Shirley

Course Outline [1]