Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0160 - Introduction to Metaphysics

Spring
2014
1
4.00
Christoph Cox
02:00PM-03:20PM T,TH
Hampshire College
313692
Emily Dickinson Hall 4
cacHA@hampshire.edu
What is ultimately or fundamentally real? What is the nature of being? Is reality ultimately physical or nonphysical? Is it one or many, visible or invisible, discrete or diffuse, eternal or temporal? Philosophers have offered the wildest and most varied answers to these questions. Today, metaphysical debates continue to rage within philosophy, cultural theory, and social theory. In this course, we will survey a range of metaphysical theories, from ancient Greek, Indian, and Chinese ontological theories up through the most recent debates in European and Anglo-American philosophy. Readings from Heraclitus, Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, the Buddha, Nagarjuna, Lao Tsu, Samkara, Leibniz, Spinoza, Berkeley, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Bergson, Whitehead, Harman, and others. The readings will be very difficult but also very rewarding. As Spinoza said: "Everything excellent is as difficult as it is rare."
Culture, Humanities, and Languages Writing and Research Multiple Cultural Perspectives In this course, students are expected to spend six hours a week in preparation and work outside of class time.
Permission is required for interchange registration during the add/drop period only.