LFU:online

This course has an interdisciplinary approach in looking at the interrelationships between biology, mythology and philosophy in human development.

It is to investigate a trajectory of human thought, starting with the biological roots of fear and the original drive for religion, truth-seeking, and myth-making. The course then follows the development of a number of maverick philosophical teachings over the centuries, from pre-Buddhist Carvakas to the Buddha, from Epicurus and Pyrrho to Lucretius, and eventually to Omar Khayyam. These emergent philosophies proposed liberation from the grasp of mythical and religious thinking, instead espousing an empirical and joyful mind. The last part of the course offers a look at the emancipating philosophical movement that resulted in the European Enlightenment and the connections with the earlier liberation philosophers such as Epicurus.

Lecture and presentations

written report and oral presentation

Bibliography provided in the first day of class