PHL3880

Origins of modern philosophy B: Locke, Leibniz and Hume

Aubrey Townsend and others

8 points - 2 hours per week - Second semester at Clayton - Prerequisites: students must have completed a minor sequence in philosophy, including PHL2110 - This subject will be offered in flexible mode only in 1999. If you are interested in taking this subject in flexible mode, please contact the department.

Objectives On completing the subject students will have a grasp of some main topics in metaphysics and epistemology discussed by the great philosophers of the early modern period. They should then be in a better position to understand contemporary philosophical work in these areas.

Synopsis This subject provides a discussion of some main issues in metaphysics and epistemology. Topics to be covered include empirical and a priori knowledge, language and meaning, concepts of substance, identity and causation, minds and persons. The discussion of these topics will be introduced through the work of the major rationalist and empiricist philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries - especially Locke, Leibniz and Hume - but the emphasis will be on issues of contemporary relevance.

Assessment Two essays of 1500 2000 words each: 60% - Two expository exercises of 750 words each: 20% - Examinations (1 hour): 20%

Prescribed texts

Hume D A treatise of human nature: Book one Penguin
A collection of readings available from the Monash Bookshop

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