Public Philosophy

P201

Course Description

“Public philosophy” is philosophical work, written by philosophers, aimed at non-philosophers. The general idea is to take a topic with which people outside of philosophy are already concerned—say, propaganda—and use the critical skills one learns in philosophy to explore that topic, with an eye to participating in the ongoing public discussion. In this class, students will read public philosophy, work on developing their own skills as philosophers, develop an understanding of the various aims and methods of public philosophy, have conversations with philosophers who specialize in public philosophy about their work (they will Skype in to our class after we read some of their work), and by the end of the class, produce a piece of public philosophy themselves! Gen Ed Arts and Humanities, COLL (CASE) Arts & Humanities Breadth of Inquiry.