PHI1011: Intro to Philosophy I

Abstract

People study philosophy because they want to know the answers to certain important questions such as those mentioned below. Philosophy usually fails in its attempts to answer them, but people keep returning to it because there is no other path to wisdom about such matters. (There is something to be said for knowing what doesn’t work; and the study of philosophy greatly enhances the critical powers of the mind.) We will be concerned with such questions as the following: (i) Does God exist?, (ii) Is there such a thing as human free will, and, if so, what is its nature?, (iii) Is human free will compatible with perfect Divine foreknowledge?, (iv) Is human free will compatible with determinism?, (v) Are there moral truths, and, if so, how do we know what they are?, (vi) What is the nature of truth?, (vii) What is the nature of infinity?, (viii) What is the nature of probability?, (ix) What is the nature of knowledge?, (x) What is the case for, and against, skepticism?, (xi) Do the things around you exist? (Answer: No.), (xii) Are we physical objects?