Introduction to Philosophy

Introduction to Philosophy is a Humanities course that offers a clear, engaging path into the questions that have shaped human thought for centuries. Through ancient arguments, modern dilemmas, and practical tools for reasoning, students will build stronger critical thinking skills and a deeper understanding of themselves, society, and the world.

Explore Humanities Through Philosophy’s Central Questions

• Take a guided tour of life’s central questions, from ancient arguments to modern dilemmas.
• Learn how to evaluate claims, reasons, objections, and replies with confidence.
• Study major philosophers including Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, and existentialist thinkers.
• Apply philosophical thinking to ethics, politics, technology, identity, justice, and public life.

This Introduction to Philosophy course introduces the essential ideas, methods, and debates at the heart of the Humanities.

Students begin with the foundations of philosophical thinking: wonder, questioning, reason, and the structure of strong arguments. From there, the course moves through ancient philosophy, exploring Socrates and the examined life, Plato’s theory of reality and knowledge, and Aristotle’s approach to virtue, purpose, and human flourishing.

The course then examines the relationship between faith and reason, the search for certainty, the limits of experience, and the structure of human understanding. Students will consider major questions in metaphysics, consciousness, personal identity, free will, and moral responsibility while learning how philosophical traditions approach disagreement and uncertainty.

Later lessons connect philosophy to everyday life through moral philosophy, applied ethics, political philosophy, existentialism, feminist thought, and social philosophy. By the end, students will be better prepared to think critically about public life, recognize hidden assumptions, evaluate complex issues, and engage Humanities questions with clarity, curiosity, and intellectual discipline.