Postgraduate Course: The European Enlightenments, 1670 - 1820 (PGHC11489)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The Enlightenment continues to be regarded, and usually celebrated, as a key moment in the transition to modernity. The purpose of this course is to complicate that view by recovering some less familiar beliefs and ideas that did not contribute to the 'modernity' of the European Enlightenments, but were an integral part of them. |
| Course description |
In public discourse the Enlightenment continues to be regarded (and usually celebrated) as a key moment in the transition to modernity. As a result, discussions about the Enlightenment have a tendency to turn into debates about the benefits and disadvantages of modernity, understood in a particular way. The defenders of modernity will emphasise the importance of, for example, rationalism, tolerance, scientific and technological progress, and political and economic freedom, all of which, it is said, are modern values that were promoted or even invented by the Enlightenment. Critics of modernity will accuse its defenders of shallow optimism and of turning a blind eye to the harmful effects of modernity, among which they may include the environmental costs of technological change, a casual disregard for the dangerous uses to which scientific discoveries can be put, a narrowly economic understanding of well-being, or an arrogant belief in the superiority of 'the West' over other cultures. The conflation of Enlightenment with a certain kind of modernity also explains why in recent years the Enlightenment has been held up as an antidote to religious (mainly Islamic) fundamentalism and political populism.
The purpose of this course is to complicate those views by focusing on ideas and beliefs which were clearly part of the eighteenth-century European Enlightenments, but are not compatible with their reputation for promoting modernity.
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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
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| Academic year 2022/23, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 0 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
90 %,
Practical Exam
10 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Practical Exam:
Class participation (10%)
Coursework:
4,000 word essay (90%)
500-word Book Review (formative)
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| Feedback |
Students are expected to discuss their coursework with the Course Organiser at least once prior to submission, and are encouraged to do so more often. Meetings can take place with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment. Students will also receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical command of the body of knowledge concerning the European Enlightenments;
- Analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship concerning the European Enlightenments, relevant primary source materials, and methodological questions in intellectual history;
- Understand and apply specialised research or professional skills, techniques and practices considered in the course;
- Develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral and written form by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course;
- Demonstrate an 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
W. Clark, J. Golinski, and S. Schaffer (eds.), The Sciences in Enlightened Europe (Chicago, 1999).
L. Hunt and M. Jacob, "Enlightenment Studies", in The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment, ed. A. C. Kors (Oxford, 2003), vol. 1.
J. Israel, A Revolution of the Mind (Princeton, NJ, 2010)
M. Mulsow, Enlightenment Underground: Radical Germany, 1680 - 1720 (University of Virginia Press, 2015) - ebook.
J. G. A. Pocock, Barbarism and Religion. Volume 2: Narratives of Civil Government (Cambridge, 1999).
R. Porter, (ed.), The Cambridge History of Science: Volume 4. Eighteenth-Century Science (Cambridge, 2003).
J. Robertson, The Enlightenment. A Very Short Introduction (Oxford, 2015)
B. Taylor and S. Knott (eds.), Women, Gender, and Enlightenment, 1650 - 1850 (Basingstoke, 2005)
S. Sebastiani, The Scottish Enlightenment. Race, Gender and the Limits of Progress (Basingstoke, 2013) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Thomas Ahnert
Tel: (0131 6)50 3777
Email: |
Course secretary | Ms Cristina Roman
Tel: (0131 6)50 4577
Email: |
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