Philosophical traditions

Contemporary philosophy encompasses several distinct traditions. This unit may cover some of the well-known traditions and figures in Western thought, such as Descartes and Cartesianism, Spinozism, or Kant; or it may cover topics and figures in the Indian, Continental, or early analytic philosophical traditions, such as Buddha, Sankara, Nietzsche, or Wittgenstein. Recently, these important traditions and figures have begun to attract attention as sources for new approaches to contemporary issues. This unit seeks to use these traditions to address fundamental questions across the discipline, such as: can we ever have certainty about anything? What is the self? What is the nature of the mind-body relationship? Is enlightenment or liberation a coherent ideal? Can humans achieve liberation? It may also cover the topics of sensuous experience and alienation, and theories of meaning and understanding.