The Philosophical Revolution of the 17th and 18th Centuries

Welcome to an exploration of the era when John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume transformed our understanding of knowledge, reality, and the human mind. At the heart of this course lies empiricism—the radical idea that all knowledge stems from sensory experience. We trace how this approach redefined epistemology and natural philosophy, ultimately laying the foundations for modern science, psychology, and economics.

Core Objectives

Rather than treating philosophical questions as timeless or decontextualized, this course follows the methodology of Quentin Skinner, uncovering the historical constraints that define what counts as a valid answer. Students will engage with:

• The Origins of Knowledge: Investigating the nature of human understanding and the limits of sensory experience.
• Conceptual Analysis: Examining how we understand fundamental concepts such as time, space, substance, causality, and identity.
• Expanding the Canon: Studying the contributions of women philosophers like Margaret Cavendish, Mary Shepherd, and Catharine Trotter Cockburn, who critiqued and expanded the boundaries of empiricism.
• Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Comparing Western empiricist theories of perception and the self with Buddhist philosophical doctrines.

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Course Reading List

Unit 1: Foundations of Empiricism

• Week 1: Introduction to Natural Philosophy
  • Required: Themes in Experimental Philosophy (Francis Bacon, Roger Boyle).
  • Optional: Francis Bacon, Novum Organum (selections).
• Week 2: Cartesian and Newtonian Context
  • Required: Descartes, Meditations and Principles of Philosophy (selections).
• Weeks 3–5: Locke’s Essay Concerning Human Understanding
  • Required: Selections from Books I–IV, covering the rejection of innate ideas, the origins of ideas (primary and secondary qualities), and the limits of knowledge.
• Week 6: Critique from Margaret Cavendish
  • Required: Cavendish, Observations upon Experimental Philosophy (selections).

Unit 2: Idealism and Immaterialism

• Weeks 7 & 8: George Berkeley
  • Required: Berkeley, Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous.
• Week 9: Defense of Causation
  • Required: Mary Shepherd, Essays on the Perception of an External Universe.

Unit 3: Skepticism and (Un)certainty

• Week 10: Hume on Causation and Induction
  • Required: David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding.
• Week 11: Defending Locke
  • Required: Catharine Trotter Cockburn’s responses to Locke’s critics.
• Week 12: Hume on Personal Identity
  • Required: David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature.

Unit 4: Perception, Self, and Causality in Western and Buddhist Philosophy

• Week 13: Nature of Reality
  • Required: Revisit Locke (Essay Book II) and Berkeley (Three Dialogues) alongside Zen Master Dogen’s Shobo Genzo.
• Week 14: Personal Identity and No-Self
  • Required: Locke (Essay Book II, Ch. XXVII) alongside the Questions of King Milinda (the chariot analogy).
• Week 15: Causation and Dependent Origination
  • Required: Hume (Treatise Book I) alongside Nāgārjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.