Course Code: PHIL 1002
Academic Year: 2025-2026
In recent years, many of us have been asking ourselves why our friends, neighbours, and sometimes even our family members believe things that can seem so outrageous and unreasonable to us. Are they foolish? Are they swayed by the kind of news they consume? Is there any way we can get them to change their minds and think like we do? But while we are busy asking ourselves these questions about them, they are asking the exact same questions about us! In this course, we will explore three questions, drawing on the resources of philosophy, psychology, and behavioural economics in order to do so: 1) How do we come to believe the things that we believe? 2) How can we change the minds of other people? 3) How can we make ourselves more open to the possibility of changing our own minds, when doing so might be good for us?