Undergraduate Course: Rational Animals: Human Nature in Early Modern Thought (HIST10386)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | This course is about theories of human nature in European thought, from roughly the mid fifteenth to the mid seventeenth century. This was a time of cultural, religious and philosophical ferment, in which established notions of what it is to be human were challenged and displaced by new understandings associated with the Renaissance revival of classical learning, the Protestant and Catholic Reformations, and the rise of the new science. |
| Course description |
The first half of the course traces changing conceptions of the human being in natural philosophy and medicine. Particular attention will be given to debates about the relationship between body and soul, as well as to questions concerning the boundaries separating humans from non-humans (such as demons and animals). The second half of the course focuses on ethical, spiritual and political accounts of human nature. Key themes here will include contrasting classical views of the supreme good for human beings, theological understandings of the Fall and its consequences, and the flowering of both secular and spiritual forms of self-knowledge and self-analysis. Emphasis throughout will be on first-hand, close analysis of primary texts (both by famous authors such as Marsilio Ficino, Andreas Vesalius, Ignatius of Loyola, and René Descartes and by less well-known figures such as Juan Luis Vives, John Abernethy and Mary Wroth), but always in relation to their social, religious, political and intellectual contexts.
Seminar topics may include the following: theories of body and soul; boundaries of the human (including gender and the status of women; demonology, witchcraft and possession; animal language and rationality; and the status of ¿savages¿ and ¿primitives¿); the relationship between classical ethics (Aristotelian, Platonic, Stoic and Epicurean) and Christianity; theological debates about original sin, free will and human agency; ethical and spiritual perspectives on self-knowledge; conceptions of human nature in political thought; historiographical debates about individualism and the secularisation of knowledge.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 50 3780).
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Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
- demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Peter Dear, Revolutionizing the Sciences: European Knowledge and Its Ambitions, 1500-1700, 2nd edn (Princeton, 2009).
D. Garber and M. Ayers (ed.), The Cambridge History of Seventeenth Century Philosophy, 2 vols (Cambridge, 1998).
P. O. Kristeller, Renaissance Concepts of Man (New York, 1972).
A. McGrath, Reformation Thought: An Introduction, 2nd edn (Oxford, 1993).
M. Moriarty, Fallen Nature, Fallen Selves (Oxford, 2006).
C. B. Schmitt, Quentin Skinner, Eckhard Kessler and Jill Kraye (eds), The Cambridge History of Renaissance Philosophy (Cambridge, 1988).
F. Vidal, The Sciences of the Soul: The Early Modern Origins of Psychology, trans. Saskia Brown (Chicago, 2011).
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
This course will help students develop a range of transferable skills, including:
- the ability to manage one¿s time effectively, work to deadlines, and perform effectively under pressure;
- the ability to gather, sift, organise and evaluate large quantities of textual evidence;
- the ability to marshal argument in both written and oral form;
- the ability to work independently and as part of a pair or larger group. |
| Keywords | Rational Animals |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Felicity Green
Tel: (0131 6)51 3856
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Summer Wight
Tel: (0131 6)50 4580
Email: |
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