Topics. This course will be an introduction to some of the philosophical issues surrounding the nature of human beings. The course will be organized around three topics: (1) the relationship between the mind and the body, (2) the nature of persons, and (3) the possibility of life after death.

A principal aim of the course will be to teach students to recognize and produce good arguments. We will spend a bit of time at the beginning of the course, and occasionally throughout, discussing what good arguments are, and why they might be worth pursuing.

Texts. You need not purchase any books for the course; all of the readings will be made available in PDF form here.

Requirements. There will be three 5-7 page papers, each worth 30% of the final grade; the last of these will be due at the scheduled time of the final exam for the course. The remaining 10% of the final grade will be based on class participation. In all of their assignments, students are responsible for compliance with the University’s honor code, information about which is available at http://www.nd.edu/~hnrcode/.

A class-by-class list of topics & readings is available here.