Doing philosophy is like seeing a movie and wondering what will happen next, or what you would do in the same situation, or what鈥檚 real and what鈥檚 merely make-believe.
You鈥檙e probably not aware of it, but since you already know how to see movies and use your imagination, you鈥檙e well on your way to becoming a good philosopher. The only thing you still need and want to develop though, is the ability to use your imagination in the philosophical way, and that鈥檚 exactly what you鈥檒l learn in this MOOC. Firstly, you鈥檒l learn how to use your imagination to put definitions, analyses or conceptions of philosophically relevant notions to the test by means of imaginary examples and counterexamples, addressing questions that have been part and parcel of Western philosophy since its very inception, such as - 鈥榳hat is knowledge?鈥; - 鈥榳hat is the mind?鈥; - 鈥檞hat is moral responsibility?鈥; and - 鈥榳hat is justice?鈥. Subsequently, you鈥檒l learn how to use your imagination to develop your worldview. You鈥檒l learn to speculate about what might explain your experiences, ranging from the commonsense explanation in terms of a mind-independent world, to sceptical alternatives, such as that you鈥檙e systematically misled by an evil demon or that only your mind exists and that it confabulates all the rest. Finally, since philosophy is not only about interpreting the world, but also about changing it -and hopefully, for the better- you鈥檒l also learn how to use your imagination to evaluate what the right thing to do is in a given situation, what the criteria are to evaluate actions, and whether such criteria are established evermore or remain an open question.