Overview

Four centuries ago, bold thinkers put reason in the driver’s seat. Meet the rationalist philosophers who changed the course of the modern world. From the 17th to 18th centuries, they cast off the authority of ancient traditions and embraced reason as the primary tool for understanding the world.

This course covers key philosophers like René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, as well as unique contributions from Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Lady Anne Conway, and Nicolas Malebranche. Led by award-winning teacher James D. Reid, Professor of Philosophy at Metropolitan State University of Denver, the course consists of 12 fascinating half-hour lectures.

Video Lectures

• Philosophy at the Dawn of the Modern Age

31 min

Explore the 16th and 17th-century intellectual climate and the connection between early modern philosophy and the Scientific Revolution.

• René Descartes’s Quest for Certainty

36 min

Discover how Descartes sought to build a foundation for knowledge that is absolutely certain through his Meditations on First Philosophy.

• Descartes’s Method and Motives

30 min

Delve into The Discourse on the Method and understand Descartes’s revolutionary approach to finding truth through reason.

4. Elisabeth of Bohemia and Cartesian Ethics

31 min

Examine Descartes’s provisional moral code and how his correspondence with Princess Elisabeth shaped his ethical views.

• Lady Anne Conway’s Vitalist Metaphysics

33 min

Learn about Conway’s critique of Cartesian dualism and her view that incorporates metaphysics, ethics, and reincarnation.

• Baruch Spinoza on God and Nature

31 min

Understand Spinoza’s belief in a single substance encompassing all reality, identifying it as God or Nature.

• Spinoza on Mind and Emotion

32 min

Explore Spinoza’s innovative theory of emotions, asserting they are part of the natural order and arise from external influences.

• Spinoza on Bondage and Freedom

32 min

Learn how Spinoza distinguishes between actions over which we have control and the pursuit of a fulfilling life.

9. Nicolas Malebranche’s Occasionalism

26 min

Discover Malebranche’s doctrine of occasionalism, integrating Cartesian metaphysics and divine intervention.

10. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz on Truth and Being

33 min  

Examine Leibniz's monads—indivisible entities explaining perception, consciousness, and other phenomena.

• Leibniz on Morality and the Problem of Evil

30 min  

Analyze Leibniz’s ideas on the best of all possible worlds and his views on the nature of evil and moral choice.

12. Rationalism Then and Now

30 min  

Reflect on how early modern philosophers' debates inform contemporary discussions about reason and truth.