PHILOS 104
Topics in Islamic Philosophy
Description: Lecture, three to four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Preparation: one philosophy course. Development of philosophy within orbit of Islam from beginning of interaction of Islam with ancient philosophy to period of hegemony of Ottoman Empire. Figures examined may vary but usually include many of al-Kindi, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Ghazali, ben Maimon (Maimonides), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), and Suhrawardi. Topics include central issues in metaphysics and epistemology. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - The subject matter of this class is extremely boring. You remain somewhat interested almost entirely because Crager is a singularly passionate philosopher. The dude lives and breathes ancient philosophy, and it seems like nothing else (including course administration) matters to him. His glasses broke sometime around week 4, and he came to every subsequent lecture with his glasses at a 30 degree angle. He wears the same shoes, same jacket, same shirt every day. He's covered in chalk. He is habitually late 15-30 minutes. He speaks like four dead languages just so that he can read the original transcripts of philosophical texts. To summarize, his personality is entertaining enough that you still come to class; that, and you wouldn't understand the readings otherwise. The course material centers around 10th-14th century Arabian philosophy. It's all mostly rehash and rebuttals of the Greek stuff from 100A. Depending on how rigorous your 100B class was, you may be familiar with some of the readings. You spend a couple lectures learning about the ridiculous medieval theories of astronomy to which these old guys subscribed; I would have rather watched grass grow. The rest of the class was decently interesting. Grading consists of two essays. They're graded by a TA, so YMMV. However, they were very grounded in the class texts (little original thought required). So, just come to lecture, record it, and take very thorough notes, and you'll be able to answer everything.
Winter 2017 - The subject matter of this class is extremely boring. You remain somewhat interested almost entirely because Crager is a singularly passionate philosopher. The dude lives and breathes ancient philosophy, and it seems like nothing else (including course administration) matters to him. His glasses broke sometime around week 4, and he came to every subsequent lecture with his glasses at a 30 degree angle. He wears the same shoes, same jacket, same shirt every day. He's covered in chalk. He is habitually late 15-30 minutes. He speaks like four dead languages just so that he can read the original transcripts of philosophical texts. To summarize, his personality is entertaining enough that you still come to class; that, and you wouldn't understand the readings otherwise. The course material centers around 10th-14th century Arabian philosophy. It's all mostly rehash and rebuttals of the Greek stuff from 100A. Depending on how rigorous your 100B class was, you may be familiar with some of the readings. You spend a couple lectures learning about the ridiculous medieval theories of astronomy to which these old guys subscribed; I would have rather watched grass grow. The rest of the class was decently interesting. Grading consists of two essays. They're graded by a TA, so YMMV. However, they were very grounded in the class texts (little original thought required). So, just come to lecture, record it, and take very thorough notes, and you'll be able to answer everything.
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