自我哲學

Self is a core issue in philosophy. It is a topic that deals with who we are, which bears implications for how we should act in a practical life and whether we may survive death. We will address this issue by two means. One is to tackle it by taking the historical approach to see how the issue of self is dealt with in the Western intellectual traditions. The other is to handle it by taking the philosophical approach to see how the issue of self is resolved in a contemporary context. We will achieve the first aim by reading closely The Early Modern Subject: Self-Consciousness and Personal Identity from Descartes to Hume by Udo Thiel (Oxford University Press, 2011), and the second by reading closely a book manuscript by Georg Northoff who is a leading neurophilopher as well as some of my own published and working papers.

This course has three aims: 1) Familiarize students with classic texts as well as contemporary works on the philosophical issue of self and personal identity; 2) Develop critical thinking abilities through reading and discussing the assigned reading materials; and 3) Propose a research topic on this issue and write a paper that meets a professional standard.

The Early Modern Subject: Self-Consciousness and Personal Identity from Descartes to Hume by Udo Thiel (Oxford University Press, 2011) A book manuscript on self and personal identity by Georg Northoff Working and published papers by Cheng