This course will take students on an exciting adventure that covers more than 2500 years. Along the way, they'll run into some very strange characters. For example, students will read about a man who hung out on street corners, barefoot and dirty, pestering everyone he met with questions. They'll read about another man who climbed inside a stove to think about whether he existed. Despite their odd behavior, these and other philosophers of the Western world are among the most brilliant and influential thinkers of all time. Students will see where many of the most fundamental ideas of Western civilization came from. They'll also get a chance to ask themselves some of the same questions these great thinkers pondered. At the end, students will have a better understanding of themselves and the world around them, from atoms to outer space and everything in between.