Postgraduate Course: Athens of the North: the Origins and Ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment (PGHC11393)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course provides an introduction to the advanced study of Scottish intellectual history in the period 1660-1780. The course will examine the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment and introduce students to some of its key ideas. Ranging across history, philosophy, religion, science and law, the course will sample the works of writers including Hutcheson, Hume, Robertson, Smith and Ferguson. |
| Course description |
This course provides an introduction to the advanced study of Scottish intellectual history in the period 1660-1780. The course will examine the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment and introduce students to some of its key ideas. Ranging across history, philosophy, religion, science and law, the course will sample the works of writers including Hutcheson, Hume, Robertson, Smith and Ferguson. The course will also discuss the Enlightenment's social context, from drink-fuelled taverns to university lecture theatres. Each class session will address a particular theme or author. The first sessions will engage with recent debates about the origins and character of the Scottish Enlightenment, examining the contributions of international influences and indigenous traditions of learning. The course will then turn to a series of major authors, topics and approaches. Here emphasis will be placed on close reading of primary sources, as well as wider matters of interpretation. Students will gain from the course knowledge of the interests of Scotland's eighteenth-century intellectuals, and the ability critically to assess recent debates about the Scottish Enlightenment's sources and nature.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate in online forum posts, the assessed book review and essay a detailed and critical command of the main historical arguments surrounding the origins and significance of the Scottish Enlightenment
- Demonstrate in online forum posts an ability to analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship concerning the Scottish Enlightenment, primary source materials including works by Enlightenment authors, and conceptual discussions about this period of Scottish history
- Demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral and written form in seminar discussions, presentations, and online forum posts by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course
- Demonstrate in seminar discussions, presentations, and online forum posts originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy
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Reading List
Extracts from various sources including the following:
Francis Hutcheson, An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, 4th edn. (1738)
David Hume, The History of Great Britain (1754)
William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V (1769)
Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society (Edinburgh, 1767)
John Millar, The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks, 3rd edn. (London: John Murray, 1779) via ECCO.
Secondary literature
** Hugh Trevor-Roper, 'The Scottish Enlightenment', Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 58 (1967), pp. 1635-58
John Robertson, 'The Scottish contribution to the Enlightenment', IHR e-seminars in History, 1997: http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/4408/1/The_Scottish_Contribution_to_the_Enlightenment_by_John_Robertson___Institute_of_Historical_Research.pdf
** Paul Wood, Introduction: Dugald Stewart and the invention of "the Scottish Enlightenment", in Paul Wood (ed.), The Scottish Enlightenment: Essays in Reinterpretation (Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 2000)
** Roger L. Emerson, 'Scottish cultural change 1660-1710 and the union of 1707', in John Robertson (ed.), A Union for Empire: Political Thought and the British Union of 1707 (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1995)
** Paul Wood, 'The scientific revolution in Scotland', in Roy Porter and Mikulás Teich (eds.), The Scientific Revolution in National Context (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1992)
Roger L. Emerson, 'Science and the origins and concerns of the Scottish Enlightenment', History of Science, 26 (1988), pp. 333-66 [online]
** James Moore, 'The two systems of Francis Hutcheson: on the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment', in M.A. Stewart (ed.), Studies in the Philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment (Oxford: Oxford U.P., 1990) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
The study of the past gives students a unique understanding of the present that will enable them to succeed in a broad range of careers. The transferable skills gained from this course include:
- understanding of complex issues and how to draw valid conclusions from the past
- ability to analyse the origins and development of current historiographical debates
- a command of bibliographical and library- and/or IT-based online and offline research skills
- a range of skills in reading and textual analysis
- ability to question and problematize evidence; considering the relationship between evidence and interpretation
- ability to marshal arguments lucidly, coherently and concisely, both orally and in writing
- ability to deliver a paper or a presentation in front of peer audiences
- ability to design and execute pieces of written work and to present them suitably, as evidenced by the final assessment essay of 3,000 words |
| Keywords | Athens North Enlightenment |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Alasdair Raffe
Tel: (0131 6)51 4269
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: |
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