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Course Details

Home / Course / Readings in Western Philosophy

Readings in Western Philosophy

$1,500.00

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Course Code:

HAM7405

Credit Hours:

3

Course Level:

700

Area of Study:

History and Method

Course Description

HAM7405 - How can we know anything? What is the relationship of knowledge to the soul? Does the state of the soul affect what it knows? In this course, we will trace the various understandings of the soul’s relationship to knowledge through some of the classics of Western thought. We will begin with the pre-Socratic philosophers, and then look at Plato’s theory of the soul and of knowledge. We will then consider Aristotle’s classification of the intellectual virtues, and why he thought “theology” was the highest science. After a brief look at Augustine’s attempt to harness Greek philosophy to Christianity, we will see how this project falls apart in modernity and knowledge is instead founded on the certitude of the subject in Descartes. The course concludes with a look at Kant’s “critical” project of setting boundaries to human reason and at the attempt to overcome those boundaries in the various “systems” of German Idealism, most notably by Hegel.
Readings in Western Philosophy
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Program of Study

This course is part of the following programs:

  • Master of Arts (M.A.) in Hindu Studies

Division

Required / Core / Elective:

Prerequisites:

Admission into a qualifying Program of Study.
There are no prerequisite courses.
The ability to read complex texts and follow sustained arguments is required.

Semester / Quarter System:

Quarter

Number of Weeks:

15

Semester / Quarter Offered:

TBD

Days of the Week:

Time:

Start Date:

End Date:

Faculty

Dr. Joydeep Bagchee

Dr. Joydeep Bagchee is a core doctoral faculty member at the Hindu University of America and a visiting lecturer based in Berlin, Germany. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from New School for Social Research, New York.
read more

joydeep.bagchee@hua.edu

Course Learning Objectives

  • Read foundational texts of Western philosophy.
  • Analyze the arguments in each text.
  • Construct an overarching picture of the main debates and lines of inquiry in Western philosophy.
  • Appreciate the historical continuity along with the main points of inflection. 
  • Contrast the complex history of Western thought through its Greek, Christian, and Modern phases with the unity and continuity of classical Indian philosophies.
Readings in Western Philosophy

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Course Content

We will read excerpts from three Platonic dialogues: The Republic on justice and the virtue of the soul, The Phaedo on the immortality of the soul, and The Phaedrus on the ascent of the soul. We will then read brief sections from Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Nicomachean Ethics and from Plotinus’s Enneads. Christian interpretations of Plato (St. Augustine) and Aristotle (Aquinas) conclude the first half of the course.

We will then continue with a look at Scotus’s reinterpretation of Aristotle’s theory of knowledge, and its consequences for Modern philosophy (Descartes, Leibniz, and Hume). We will conclude with Kant’s restriction of reason to empirical phenomena and the knowledge it can have of itself, and Hegel’s attempt to overcome these boundaries to return to Absolute Knowledge. The following Hackett readers are required:

  • A Pre-Socratics Reader
  • A Plato Reader: Eight Essential Dialogues
  • Aristotle: Introductory Readings
  • The Plotinus Reader
  • The Essential Augustine
  • Scotus: Philosophical Writings
  • Descartes: Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy
  • Leibniz: Discourse on Metaphysics and Other Essays
  • Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Kant’s Theory of Knowledge Hegel: Phenomenology and System Before and After Hegel

Class Structure

The class will meet for three hours each week. The course is structured as a series of lectures. Students will be asked to complete brief assignments (typically between 3–5 questions) to test their comprehension of the materials presented in class. There will be final exam. This is a take-home exam.

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Master of Arts in Hindu Studies
Please click on the link below to enroll into the Readings in Western Philosophy Program or the appropriate phase.

On the program page, there are multiple payment plan options to choose from.

Master of Arts in Hindu Studies

Readings in Western Philosophy

Courses in the Program

  • Applied Vedic Science – Advanced (Ayurveda)
  • Applied Vedic Science – Advanced (Jyotisha)
  • Applied Vedic Science – Advanced (Vedanta)
  • Applied Vedic Science – Advanced (Yoga)
  • Applied Vedic Science – Basic (Ayurveda)
  • Applied Vedic Science – Basic (Jyotish)
  • Applied Vedic Science – Vedanta (Basic)
  • Applied Vedic Sciences Basic (Yoga)
  • Mimamsa Advanced
  • Mimamsa Basic
  • Nyaya-vaisesika Advanced
  • Nyaya-Vaisesika Basic
  • Sahitya – III
  • Sahitya – IV
  • Sahitya – Padya
  • Sahitya Landscape
  • Term Project – Sanskrit Studies
  • Introduction to Vedas
  • The Vedas (Atharva)
  • The Vedas (Rgveda)
  • The Vedas (Yajus-Sama)
  • Vedic Science Foundations
  • Vyakarana – I
  • Vyakarana – II
  • Vyakarana – III
  • Vyakarana – IV