グローバル教養科目（Strange, but Meaningful: An Introduction to Philosophical Questions）

Philosophical questions are strange. Some seem to have an ‘obvious’, ‘easy’ answer. For others, there seems to be no answer at all, or at least no answer that humans may be able to sort out. Observations like these may make for the impression that philosophy is pointless. Yet not everything strange is pointless. The objective of this course is to make students appreciate the value of thinking about philosophical questions. In contrast to most standard introductions to this subject, my course will put the questions to the fore, rather than certain views as to how to ‘answer’ such questions. Like my other GLA course “Reading Philosophy”, this course is open to students also without any special background in philosophy. Its historical scope is wide, ranging from literature from ancient Greece to contemporary philosophy. Classes will be given in the form of a reading seminar, where students can acquire an understanding of philosophy more actively through engagement with primary texts. If you are happy to read texts closely and to think about what is going on in them, this is a course for you.