AP/HUMA 3021 6.00

Exegesis in Select Philosophical Texts

The course is designed to cover a range of thinkers from various disciplines in the Humanities. This version of the course will cover the philosophies of Descartes and Hume. Our focus is primarily on understanding the writings of Rene Descartes and David Hume. Both seek a revolution in learning through method development. Their respective methodologies vary in different works. Once their methodologies are understood, we will explore how these methodologies impact on the interpretation of texts, and their treatment of philosophical topics. In some of his writings, Descartes urges that philosophy and learning should emulate the method of mathematic for only in mathematics has indubitability and certainty been achieved. However, an entirely different account of method and learning emerges when we turn to his Meditations on First Philosophy, his work on metaphysics, in which he seeks the first principles of human knowledge. His account of his method for metaphysics appears in his Replies to the Second Set of Objections, where Descartes hints at this new method, but does not elaborate on it. It remains for us to unpack all of this, and understand its application in the search for first principles Hume aspires to be the Newton of the moral sciences, and in his Treatise of Human Nature (his earliest work), he does apply Newton's 'Experimental Method' to resolving philosophical problems. In later works, Hume adds to this methodological approach, especially since the topics covered, e.g. the existence and nature of designer of the world and the credibility of miracles, do not lend themselves to the Newtonian - type experimental method. We will learn how to uncover Hume's dual methodological approach, and how he applies these methodologies to resolving problems.