Unit name | Enlightenment Europe (Level C Special Topic) |
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Unit code | HIST14005 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | C/4 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Dr. Sheldon |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of History (Historical Studies) |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
This unit introduces the phenomenon of enlightenment in Europe. A broad movement that sought to understand man and society, enlightenment defines the intellectual history of the eighteenth century and leaves a profound mark upon today. Answering the question ‘what is enlightenment?’ The philosopher Kant answered that it was a movement towards ‘man’s release from his self-incurred immaturity’ and urged his readers adopt the motto ‘dare to know’. Enlightenment thinkers attempted to leave behind the traditional sources of authority and knowledge - the church, divine right monarchs and their followers and to forge new, rational ways of understanding and organizing society. So profound has been the legacy of enlightenment that it is today credited or blamed for everything between modern liberal democracy and the totalitarian states of the twentieth Century.
Aims:
By the end of the unit students should have:
10 x 2 hour seminars.
1 x 2 hour exam
Dorinda Outram, The Enlightenment (2008)
Roy Porter, Enlightenment: Britain and the Making of the Modern World (2000)
Jonathan Israel, A Revolution of the Mind: Radical Enlightenment and the Intellectual Origins of Modern Democracy (2009)
Tzvedan Todorov, In Defence of the Enlightenment (2009)
Volaire, Letters Concerning the English Nation (1721)