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Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature pairs central texts from Western philosophical tradition (including works by Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Hobbes, Kant, Mill, Rawls, and Nozick) with recent findings in cognitive science and related fields. The course is structured around three intertwined sets of topics: Happiness and Flourishing; Morality and Justice; and Political Legitimacy and Social Structures.

Sessions

Lecture 1 Introduction
Lecture 2 The Ring of Gyges: Morality and Hypocrisy
Lecture 3 Parts of the Soul I
Lecture 4 Parts of the Soul II
Lecture 5 The Well-Ordered Soul: Happiness and Harmony
Lecture 6 The Disordered Soul: Thémis and PTSD
Lecture 7 Flourishing and Attachment
Lecture 8 Flourishing and Detachment
Lecture 9 Virtue and Habit I
Lecture 10 Virtue and Habit II
Lecture 11 Weakness of the Will and Procrastination
Lecture 12 Utilitarianism and its Critiques
Lecture 13 Deontology
Lecture 14 The Trolley Problem
Lecture 15 Empirically-informed Responses
Lecture 16 Philosophical Puzzles
Lecture 17 Punishment I
Lecture 18 Punishment II
Lecture 19 Contract & Commonwealth: Thomas Hobbes
Lecture 20 The Prisoner's Dilemma
Lecture 21 Equality
Lecture 22 Equality II
Lecture 23 Social Structures
Lecture 24 Censorship
Lecture 25 Tying up Loose Ends
Lecture 26 Concluding