PHIL 1A — Theories of Knowledge and Reality
This course explores some of the deepest questions about human life. What does it mean to be human? How can God coexist with evil? What is the evidence for God’s existence anyway? Do we have free will or are our thoughts and actions determined by forces outside our control? What is your mind? Is it nothing more than activity in your brain, or is your mind a soul? What is a soul, and are there good reasons to think souls are real? What is knowledge, why is it valuable, and how can you tell when you have it? Can we know anything with certainty, and does that matter? This class will provide an opportunity to explore these and similar questions, in conversation with texts from some of the greatest minds in human history. (A, CSU, UC, Cal-GETC)