PHL 432 German Idealism (3 credits)

In this course we shall explore the views of the major thinkers of the German idealist period—namely, Kant, Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel—with respect to such topics as the nature of human reason, knowledge and the self, the relation between mind and world, the unconditioned, freedom and morality, the nature and role of art, God and religion, and reason in history. We shall begin the course by sketching the philosophical context and a set of problems that helped motivate the movement as a whole. Some attention may also be paid to some of the lesser-known figures of the period, such as Reinhold, Jacobi, and Maimon.