Teaching

What is the difference between knowledge and faith? Must faith begin where knowledge ends, or can faith itself be a path to knowledge? What, then, can we know, and what may we hold as a matter of faith? And when knowledge and faith diverge, which should we prefer? Can both be rational? These questions have shaped the history of epistemology, where knowledge and faith have often figured as paired concepts. In this course, we explore their changing relationship through canonical positions in the history of Western thought, engaging Augustine, Aquinas, Locke, Kant, and Hegel. Along the way, we will ask not only what knowledge and faith are, but whether a life guided by reason must ultimately choose between them.

This course introduces students to philosophy by confronting five big questions: Does God exist? What can I know? Are we free? What is the good life? Is morality objective? We will tackle these questions by engaging with a wide range of philosophical ideas and arguments, reading canonical texts from Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Hume, and Kant, alongside contemporary scholarship. As part of the course, you will learn to think for yourself in a structured and rigorous way; to read and unpack challenging texts critically; and to express your own ideas clearly and persuasively in writing.

This course is on Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, Kant’s attempt to confront our finite minds with reason’s infinite demands. We will examine why Kant thinks reality depends partly on our minds and how this makes possible metaphysical knowledge about space, time, and the fundamental structure of nature. We will consider why Kant denies such knowledge about the soul, the world, and God, thereby making room for rational faith within science and ethics. We will also ask whether metaphysics can stand as a science separate from physics and mathematics, and what it means to critique reason itself. No prior knowledge of Kant is required. We will read the text closely and discuss it critically, aiming to grasp its main arguments, its architectonic unity, and its mind-bending ambition.

This course introduces students to philosophy by confronting five big questions: Does God exist? How is knowledge possible? Are we free? Is morality objective? What is the purpose of life? We will tackle these questions by engaging with a wide range of philosophical ideas and arguments, reading canonical texts from Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and Kant, alongside contemporary scholarship. As part of the course, you will learn to think for yourself in a structured and rigorous way; to read and unpack challenging texts critically; and to express your own ideas clearly and persuasively in writing.

In these lectures, we examine Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785). We will especially address the following four questions: (i) In what sense is the good will good without limitation? (ii) What is moral worth, and how does it relate to Kant’s concept of duty? (iii) What are the different formulas of the categorical imperative, and how do they relate? (iv) Why should we think that the categorical imperative is universally valid? In answering these questions, the lectures seek to convey the basic elements of Kant’s moral thought. However, the lectures also try to counter the common misconception that Kant’s ethics is anaemic or cold. We will see that happiness plays an important role for Kant.