Instructor: Andrew Jehan

Instructor email: videosyncrasy@yahoo.com

Time: Mondays, 6:30pm-8:30pm

Location: Gerald Larkin Building (15 Devonshire Place) - Room 214 (except Feb 1 when it will be in room 340). This map makes the Larkin building easy to find: http://sws.rosi.utoronto.ca/sws/map/main.do?locations.dispatch=1&external=1&c=STG

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Description:

This course offers a survey of the basic subject areas of philosophy. The primary aim is to introduce students to the discipline of philosophy by concentrating on certain basic questions about human life as they have been addressed in the Western philosophical tradition. There will also be some cross-comparison to other traditions.

Philosophical questions are such as these: (1) What is a life worth living? (2) What is a political order I can call just? (3) What is the proper basis for my judgments of right and wrong? (4) Am I free? (5) What is the nature of my consciousness? (6) Does God exist? (7) What are the limits of my knowledge? (8) What is the nature of reality? (9) What is the meaning of life—if any?

Our concern in this course is the human one of how to make sense of our existence. We are here to question ourselves in a critical and disciplined manner as well as to learn something about the traditions, methods, and concerns of philosophy.

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About me:

I have recently completed the requirements for an Honours Bachelor of the Arts at the University of Toronto specializing in Philosophy with minors in Writing and Rhetoric, and Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health. This upcoming year, I am participating in the University’s ‘Socrates Project’ in which I am employed as a Teaching Assistant to lead two tutorial sections of first-year ‘Introduction to Philosophy’ and to grade student’s essays and examinations.

I have participated in a few AnarchistU courses in the past, but until now I have found myself too busy to facilitate one. I hope that an AnarchistU Introduction to Philosophy course will give those who are not interested or able to pursue a degree access to interesting university-level material.