MODULE I – What Can We Know?

Sec 1 • Why Philosophy?

1.1 What is Critical Thinking?
1.2 The 3 Stages of Critical Thinking
1.3 Thales • Ad Hoc Stories
1.4 Pythagoras • What is Philosophy?

Sec 2 • Classical Thinking

2.1 Heraclitus • The Same River Twice
2.2 Socrates • Know Thyself
2.3 Plato • Leaving the Cave
2.4 St. Augustine • The City of God
2.5 St. Aquinas • On Scholastic Faith
2.6 Ockham’s Razor • Let’s Cut to the Chase

Sec 3 • Scientific Thinking

3.1 Avicenna & Maimonides • Rational Thinking
3.2 The Birth of Modernity
3.3 Descartes • Self-Evident Truth
3.4 Locke • Empirical Thinking
3.5 Popper • Science & Falsifibility
3.6 Hawking • Philosophy & Science

Sec 4 • Thinking Today

4.1 Kant • Early Phenomenology
4.2 Merleau-Ponty • Late Phenomenology
4.3 Wittgenstein • Language Games
4.4 Arendt • Post-Truth World

MODULE II – What Should We Do?

Sec 5 • Character Ethics

5.1 What is Ethics?
5.2 Aristotle • What is Virtue?
5.3 MacIntyre • Virtue Today
5.4 Socrates • Euthyphro’s Dilemma
5.5 St. Aquinas • Natural Law Theory
5.6 MLK • Natural Law & Civil Rights

Sec 6 • Contractarian Ethics

6.1 Our Natural Rights
6.2 Hobbes • Social Contract Theory
6.3 Locke • Negative Liberty
6.4 Rousseau • Positive Liberty
6.5 The Political Philosophy Horseshoe
6.6 Haidt • Against Authoritarianism

Sec 7 • Deontological Ethics

7.1 Spinoza • Universal Ethics
7.2 Ethics after Hobbes
7.3 Kant • Maxims & Reason
7.4 Kant • Deontological Principles
7.5 Ross • Prima Facie Duties
7.6 Autonomy & Consent

Sec 8 • Consequentialist Ethics

8.1 Aristippus & Bentham • On Hedonism
8.2 Machiavelli • On Consequentialism
8.3 Mill • On Utilitarianism
8.4 Revisiting Kant & Mill

MODULE III – What is Our Purpose?

Sec 9 • The Personal Struggle

9.1 What Would Epicurus Buy?
9.2 Epicurus • The 3 Things You Actually Need
9.3 Lucretius • How to Live Without Fear
9.4 Heraclitus • Nature & Self-Control
9.5 Zeno • How to Be Happy (ie. Stoicism)
9.6 Pigliucci • Grit & the Modern Stoic

Sec 10 • The Modern Struggle

10.1 Hegel • The Goal of Modernity
10.2 Marx • Dialectical Materialism
10.3 Marx • The Lonely Worker
10.4 Dilthey & Habermas • Why Marxism Failed
10.5 Gadamer • Modernity & Interpretation
10.6 Heidegger • Modernity & Technology

Sec 11 • Against Nihilism

11.1 The Existentialists
11.2 Kierkegaard • The Crowd of Untruth
11.3 Heidegger & Camus • How to Smile Authentically
11.4 Nietzsche • Apollo vs. Dionysus
11.5 Nietzsche • The Übermensch
11.6 Levinas • The Irreducibility of the Other

Sec 12 • Toward Self-Affirmation

12.1 Sartre • The True Self
12.2 Beauvoir • Self & Partner
12.3 Arendt • Self & the Unreflective Other
12.4 Rorty & West • Self Affirmation & Shared Purpose

MODULE IV – On Art & Representation

Sec 13 • On Truth & Art

13.1 Plato • Art & Philosophy
13.2 Schopenhauer • Art & Purpose
13.3 Bell • Art & Form
13.4 Heidegger • Art & Truth
13.5 Barthes • Art & Intention
13.6 Derrida • Artist & Audience

Sec 14 • Truth & Culture

14.1 Gadamer • Truth & Representation
14.2 Kant • Truth & the Transcendent
14.3 Nietzsche • Truth & the Avant-Garde
14.4 Lyotard • Culture & Institutions
14.5 Eagleton • Culture & Value
14.6 Foucault • Culture & Hierarchy

Sec 15 • Habitus & the Hyppereal

15.1 Latour • Art & Social Truth
15.2 Bordieu • Art & Habitus
15.3 Benjamin • Art & Aura
15.4 Baudrilliard • Art & the Hyperreal