MIND, Morality, and Free Will - HONORS

Students must be accepted into the Honors Program to enroll in the following course.

Course Description

This seminar is a philosophical examination of humanity’s quest to understand what it means to be human. Morality, mind, and free will are three of the things commonly cited as distinctive human marks. Most humans take for granted that there are some actions they ought to do and others they ought not to do; that they have a mental life characterized by intentionality, reason, and self-consciousness; that they have the capacity to make significant choices and are responsible for the choices they make. Yet few things are more difficult to understand than morality, mind, and free will. For over two thousand years, philosophers have struggled to explain their nature, causes, and limits. Some, like Socrates, have thought that “life without examination is not worth living.” More recently, social, behavioral, and cognitive scientists have joined this ancient quest for self-knowledge. Our task is to examine and critique some of the insights and controversies that have emerged from their labors.