This course covers the canonical issues of Western Philosophy, especially justice, epistemology and metaphysics. Given the presidential election, the course focuses on the importance of politics in each area. We will begin with Plato, Machiavelli, Marx, Rousseau and de Tocqueville. Each thinker will present a different view of the good society and the just life. In the second portion of the course on epistemology — or theories of knowledge — we will read Descartes' famous "Meditations" and John Dewey's "Great Community" to see where knowledge comes from and how a society ought to integrate science in its affairs. The final portion of the semester will focus on the great metaphysical questions of faith and religion, but once again with a focus on politics. We will read Freud, Augustine, Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky. We will end the course with Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot."