(Recorded Course) Philosophy 101: What do Philosophers do and how do they do it? with Dr. Jean Rioux

NOTICE: This is an older course recorded with Adobe Connect and/or Vimeo recordings. We are currently working to replace the recordings with new Zoom recordings.  Please don't hesitate to email us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com with any questions.

Total classes: 8

Duration: 55 minutes

Prerequisite: none

Suggested grade level: 9-12th grade

Suggested high school credit: 2/3 semester Philosophy. Add other philosophy courses or extra reading for full credit.

 

Instructor: Jean Rioux, Ph.D.

 Course description: Aristotle famously said, “all men by nature desire to know.” For over 2600 years, philosophers have grappled with life’s profound questions. Seeking answers, they left their conclusions behind, along with the arguments supporting them. In this course, we will be studying some of the better-known philosophical arguments in light of the issues they have addressed. From Plato’s allegory of the cave to the five ways of St. Thomas Aquinas to Pascal’s wager, these arguments can serve as a brief introduction to the life and work of philosophers to anyone who would like to discover more about the “examined life.”

Course outline:

Session 1: Plato’s “allegory of the cave”, from the Republic

Session 2: Aristotle on happiness and moral virtue, from the Nicomachean Ethics

Session 3: St. Augustine on choosing evil, from the Confessions

Session 4: St. Anselm of Canterbury’s and René Descartes’ “ontological” arguments, from the Proslogion and the Meditations, respectively

Session 5: René Descartes on how I may know of my own existence, from the Meditations

Session 6: Blaise Pascal on the “wager” argument, from the Pensées

Session 7: St. Thomas Aquinas on the possibility of proving God’s existence, from the Summa Theologiae

Session 8: St. Thomas Aquinas’ “five ways”, from the Summa Theologiae

 

Course materials: The reading materials will be provided FREE to you in the form of a pdf file. References to the readings made during the course will be to this version. Students are expected to read the short selections (about two pages, on average) carefully before each session.

Homework: Homework for each session will consist, first, of a close reading of the assigned materials. Written assignments will consist of students' careful, short-essay responses to two or three prompts covering the last class' material, graded by Dr. Rioux. You can expect to spend 1 or 2 hours outside of class on reading and assignments.

If you have any questions please contact us at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com.