PHI 202 - Foundations Modern Philosophy

Semester Hours: 4

An examination of the philosophical period that began with the philosophy of Rene Descartes, whose impact led to a redirecting of intellectual efforts and still reverberates today. Beginning with his attack on the epistemological methodologies of his contemporaries, this course will trace the impact that Cartesian philosophy had on his contemporaries and the philosophical responses that followed. Included will be an examination of the primary epistemological divisions of the time (rationalism and empiricism), as expressed by the key philosophers of the time period (Descartes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume), as well as a look at the culminating transitional figure who closes the period (Immanuel Kant). Meets Religious and Philosophical Though Intellectual Perspective requirement (RP).

Intellectual Perspective: RP