his unit introduces the big philosophical questions about human nature, personal identity, and the meaning of life. What is the fundamental nature of reality? Are human beings somehow unique in nature? Do we have distinct selves that endure through time? What is the relation between our identity and the things that matter to us? We take a broadly historical approach, reading the classic philosophical texts as well as contemporary work. But three themes recur across the unit: the relation of mind and body, the quest for knowledge, and the nature of the self.
We begin with the philosophers of Ancient Greece. We look at how they understood the relationship between the self and the cosmos, and the relation between body and soul. We then turn to conceptions of the mind at the dawn of the modern period, asking whether mind is entirely physical, or could in principle survive bodily death. We also explore the links between the self, time, and memory. The third section of the unit introduces some key thinkers of the twentieth century. We explore their views on lived experience, shame, gendered embodiment, and the struggle between Self and Other. So the unit as a whole offers a detailed introduction to controversial questions about the nature of the mind, showing how historical understanding animates current debates, and demonstrating the relevance of philosophy to live modern issues about science, human nature, and culture.
