Courses

The history of philosophy is not only the story of how particular concepts and doctrines — regarding cosmology, metaphysics, mind, language, ethics, politics — developed in the past.  It also is the story of different conceptions of the philosophical life itself.  In recent decades historians and philosophers have become increasingly interested in this subject.  This seminar is devoted to examining different themes and episodes in this history, from antiquity to the present.  In the spring of 2022 we will focus on ideas about the philosophical life in classic modern thinkers, from Bacon to Kant.