PL 371 - Introduction to Descartes

(3.00 cr.)

Prerequisite: PL 201 and one additional PL 200-level course. An examination of the doctrines of René Descartes through the study of his works, The Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy with some reference to Rules for the Direction of the Mind and Passions of the Soul. Lectures address the centrality of Descartes's teaching to the modern program, mathematical certitude, the relation between reason and passion, philosophic method, metaphysical neutrality, and the project of "mastery and possession of nature."