PHIL 31.08 Puzzles of the Material World

The world around us seems to be populated with familiar objects of all sorts: plants and animals, tables and chairs, rivers and mountains. Yet a range of puzzles and paradoxes have been raised to do with the vagueness of ordinary objects, their relationship to the matter that makes them up, and the apparent rivalry between scientific and everyday descriptions of the world. Might ordinary objects be an illusion? What does the material world truly contain? Can we save our common-sense view of the world?

Prerequisite

One Philosophy course, or permission of the instructor.

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:TMV

The Timetable of Class Meetings contains the most up-to-date information about a course. It includes not only the meeting time and instructor, but also its official distributive and/or world culture designation. This information supersedes any information you may see elsewhere, to include what may appear in this ORC/Catalog or on a department/program website. Note that course attributes may change term to term therefore those in effect are those (only) during the term in which you enroll in the course.