Intro to Philosophy

In this course, students will encounter many of the great questions of philosophy and the thinkers who shaped them. We will study figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant, and more recent voices, while exploring themes that remain central to the human search for truth. Units will include the human person and the meaning of selfhood, epistemology (how we know what we know), freedom and determinism, the problem of evil and belief in God, and the pursuit of happiness and love. Students will engage classic and contemporary texts, draw connections to Catholic thought and tradition, and test ideas against their own lived experience. The aim of the course is not only to understand philosophy as an academic discipline, but also to reflect on how philosophical wisdom and critical thinking can illuminate everyday life.