Philosophy 201

Philosophy 201: Introduction to Metaphysics & Epistemology

David Sanson
Illinois State University
Spring 2022

This class offers an introduction to contemporary work in metaphysics and epistemology. Epistemology is about knowledge. Questions include: What is knowledge? Why is it valuable? How can we best go about acquiring it? Metaphysics is about reality. Questions include: What is there? Why is there something rather than nothing? Are some things more fundamental than others? Do some things not exist?

This class is restricted to majors, and required for all majors. So I also think of it as an opportunity for you to get to know each other. And I think of it as a bit of a “boot camp” for majors, where we can focus not just on learning about some cool philosophy stuff, but also on building the skills necessary for being a successful philosophy major.