PHIL 287 - 17th Century Rationalism

Institution:

Trinity College

Subject:

Description:

An examination of the three thinkers whose systems are the foremost representations of rationalism, the theory of knowledge which is opposed to empiricism. The rationalists believed that a priori reason (making no recourse to sensory input or induction) was both necessary and (in the case of Spinoza and Leibniz) also sufficient for knowledge of the world. We will examine the epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical views of these three thinkers, assessing their challenge to empiricism, always bearing in mind their relation to one another and to the great conceptual revolutions of the 12th-century, most notably the emergence of modern physics in the figures of Galileo and Isaac Newton. 1.00 units, Lecture

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.Trincoll.edu

Phone Number:

(860) 297-2000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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