About Me
A U.S. citizen born in Germany, I earned BA degrees in philosophy and history at George Mason University in 1985, and MA and PhD degrees at the American University in 1991. My teaching career started in the philosophy department at Loyola University Maryland in 1991 until 2007. I taught courses in philosophical anthropology, honors ethics courses, as well as upper-level courses in my area on Kant and 18th century aesthetic theory. While at Loyola, I expanded my AOC to satisfy an interest in science and designed and taught a special course in the history and philosophy of science.
In 2006 my 16-year old granddaughter was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor and I opted to retire from academic life in 2007 to be with her in the last year of her life. Since that time I have found new joy and satisfaction in teaching philosophy for the Osher Life Long Learning in Retirement Institutes at George Mason University and at the American University, as well as for a similarly organized program at Encore Learning in Arlington.
I never imagined that giving up my very satisfying academic tenured position would lead to something even more rewarding, to a new adventure teaching an intellectually engaged retirement community — genuine seekers of wisdom after a lifetime of having had careers of their own in science, law, medicine, government and other areas. This for me has become the greatest academic highlight, to engage students in philosophical debates on a variety of issues, who bring sagacity and infectious joy of learning to the study of philosophy, adding their rich professional backgrounds and insights to class debates. I’d say, it can’t get any better than that. To design new courses and amass a certain repertoire I have ventured beyond my area of competence (see my course offerings on this page). I have also taught a course at my local church, titled “The God of the Philosophers”, to talk about the close relationship between Faith and Reason.
My Repertory of Courses Taught in the Osher and Encore Program
- Introduction to Kant
- Philosophical Aesthetics
- General Ethics or What is the Good Life?
- Philosophy and Science: Kissing Cousins
- Existentialism
- Ancient Greek Roots of Modern Science
- What is Philosophy Anyway (or the Enterprise of Philosophy)
- Metaphysics: The Nature of Reality
- Spinoza’s Ethics
- Philosophies of Human Nature (A Survey)
Osher Life Long Learning Institute
At George Mason University
Course #F65
IMMANUEL KANT: An Intellectually Challenging Overview
Wednesdays, 11:50 – 1:15, March 27 to May 8, 2024
(No class April 24)
Your friendly tour guide (instructor): Irmgard Scherer, PhD.
e-mail: ischerer@loyola.edu
This course examines Kant’s central thesis: Any pursuit of knowledge claiming legitimacy (whether in science, ethics, or art), must be guided by a set of identifiable principles. Where are such fixed principles to be found? Kant answers, they originate in the depth of the mind from which (self-evidently) all knowledge claims are generated. In three volumes (“Critiques”) Kant explores the powers of the mind (called “faculties”) by which we gain knowledge. This amounts to Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” in thinking.
We will in large strides, for non-experts, foregoing dense technical detail, go over Kant’s philosophy and how the Critiques hang together. Questions and objections against Kant’s program — Is the mind really “hardwired” by fixed principles? Is Kant’s metaphysical “foundationalism” still relevant in today’s scientific culture? — are raised.
Selected Readings are provided in a READER. Students wishing to explore Kant more fully, two books Kant had meant for “common people” are recommended: Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics and Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals.
Session 1. Introducing Kant’s philosophy dominated by 3 questions: What can I know? (First Critique); What ought I to do? (Second Critique); How do I judge? (Third Critique). We scan four mental powers by which we make sense of the world; a historical background of Kant’s life. What is his primary concern?
Session 2. First Reading: Critique of Pure Reason, pp. 6-15. What can I know? Why is human reason “fated”? Why is “metaphysics” problematic? Who are the culprits who brought down the “queen of the sciences”? What is possible to know or what is impossible to experience? Kant takes on (Leibnizian) rationalism and British empiricism. Focus on two faculties: Sensibility and Understanding.
Session 3. Second Reading: Critique of Pure Reason, pp. 17-25. Kant’s “Copernican-like Revolution” in thinking? Does the mind construct the world or is the world teacher of knowledge? Kant’s Schema of Transcendental Psychology (page 6).
Session 4. Third Reading: The Metaphysical Principles of Virtue (in lieu of Critique of Practical Reason), “Fragments of a Moral Catechism”. Kant’s moral philosophy: What ought I to do? Dialogue between a hypothetical student and his teacher. Focus: What is happiness and who deserves it? Can reason tell us what is right and wrong? or do we get morality from parents, church, teachers, God? The will’s freedom and happiness.
Session 5. Fourth Reading: Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals. Kant’s deontological ethics. More on what ought I to do? Moral actions done from duty alone. What about consequences of actions? The “Categorical Imperative” and how to figure out its command. The “Kingdom of ends.”
Session 6. Fifth Reading. Brief excursion into Critique of Judgment, which has been called a “discordant accord” (Gilles Deleuze). How ought we to judge? 2 kinds of judgments: aesthetic judgments giving rule to art and beauty; teleological judgments giving rule to science or “physical teleology”. Primary principle for judgment: Purposiveness.
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