Introduction to Philosophy I

This course is your first encounter with theoretical philosophy as a discipline of careful argument, not opinion, it tackles the foundational questions about reality, knowledge, mind, and free will that every later philosophy course builds on. You'll spend most of your time doing close readings of canonical texts, writing short response pieces and two term essays, and practicing how to reconstruct an argument and then attack or defend it in class. Treat it less as content to memorize and more as training in a specific skill: reading a difficult text charitably, isolating its claims, and writing your own position clearly enough that it can be argued against.