PHIL 3410

Knowledge and Reality

An examination of interrelated issues concerning belief, justification, knowledge, and existence and the implications of these for broader philosophical issues. Narrower issues may include: What is the source of our beliefs? How do these sources affect our determinations of what fundamentally exists and what those things are like? How do our assumptions about what exists affect the objects and methods of knowing? When do beliefs become knowledge? Are there some things about the world that we cannot know about? Broader issues may include: What kind of thing is a mind or a self? How does such a thing fit into a natural world? What can non-human animals or computers tell us about intelligence? In what sense can collective entities engage in intentional behavior?

Units: 3.0