PY400-5-FY: CONCEPTUAL FOUNDATIONS OF MODERNITY

Year: 2013/14
Department: Philosophy
Essex credit: 30
ECTS credit: 15
Available to Study Abroad / Exchange Students: Yes

Module Description

A second year compulsory module for students on the BA Philosophy. A recommended module for second year students taking a philosophy joint degree, and in particular for those wishing to take PY413 Contemporary Political Philosophy and PY500, Kant`s Revolution in Philosophy, in their third year. It is also available as an outside option.

Module Outline (updated March 2013)

This module is devoted to the study of a few key philosophical texts that helped lay the conceptual foundations for what is now called the modern era. In characterizing the work of these philosophers as foundational, we are mirroring their own claims to establishing a new direction for human theoretical and practical activity predicated upon a clear rupture with the past. The philosophers of the early modern period were seeking to open up new possibilities for human thought and action in a context where scientific and philosophic inquiry was profoundly circumscribed by the authority of the Church. As a consequence, early modern philosophy had to address the problem of the ultimate foundations of every decision, be it about the scientific method or the political organization of the community.

This module will introduce students to the debate between philosophers who, following Descartes, sought to provide a foundation of the human project by stressing the power of human intellect unaided by divine revelation and those who responded to these new challenges by stressing the limited and contextual nature of the human intellect, and its relation to or dependence upon on our historical, animal or socio-political nature. The module will give students a deeper understanding of our intellectual history and a more profound perspective on the still active debates stemming from the positions taken by these philosophers. In the process, we will come to see modernity in terms of a specific set of problems rather than one particular answer to them.

Autumn term

In the Autumn, we will focus mainly on the work of Descartes, and of two `Cartesians` philosophers, Spinoza and Leibniz, who shared with Descartes the conviction that some absolute knowledge was in the reach of the human mind. Despite this shared conviction, however, there are profound differences between these individual philosophers, and we will highlight the differences in the way they approach the modern project. We will more particularly focus on the following questions. What is the nature and limit of human knowledge? What role does human subjectivity have to play in the foundation of a new theoretical and practical world? Must a rationalist approach to the world rely on God? What must be the relations between faith and reason? Is human freedom compatible with a scientific vision of the world as made of natural laws? What is the relation between the Body and the Mind? The bulk of the term will be devoted to an examination of Descartes` two quite different programmatic statements of his philosophy, in the Discourse on Method and the Meditations on First Philosophy. We will then see how Spinoza and Leibniz, while both working within the discursive framework laid out by Descartes, respond to quite different and in many ways opposed elements in Descartes` philosophy.

Spring Term

In the Spring term, we will turn our attention to the works of Thomas Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and David Hume. As in the first term, we will address these philosophers` accounts of subjectivity, the sources and limits of human knowledge, the relation between body and mind (or soul), and the freedom or lack of freedom of human action. In contrast to philosophers in the Cartesian tradition, however, these philosophers stress the bounded and contextual character of human rationality. We will focus on the ways Hobbes, Rousseau and Hume argued that human rationality cannot be properly understood independently from physical, social, political, and historical aspects of human nature. We will also consider the relation between their disparate accounts of human nature and their implicit or explicit accounts of morality, justice and the proper ends of human life.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able in their essay and examination work to:

summarise and expound in their own words theories and arguments from early modern philosophy;

expound and criticise commentaries on the traditional authors and texts;

expound and criticise some of the theories proposed by philosophers to cope with problems raised by selected authors.

Learning & Teaching Methods

1 x one-hour lecture each week followed by a one-hour discussion seminar at which issues covered in the lecture will be discussed. Weeks 8 and 21 are Reading Weeks. Weeks 30 and 31 (Summer term) are revision sessions.

Assessment

50 per cent Coursework Mark, 50 per cent Exam Mark

Coursework:
Autumn term: 1 x 700-1500 word essay (10% of the coursework mark) 1 x 2000-3000 word essay (40% of the coursework mark). Spring term: 1 x 700-1500 word essay (10% of the coursework mark) 1 x 2000-3000 word essay (40% of the coursework mark).

Exam Duration and Period

3:00 hour exam during Summer Examination period.

Other information

Erasmus/IP students must have already taken an introductory module in Philosophy at their home institution.

Compulsory for: BA Philosophy students in their second year.

Bibliography

• Brief Bibliography and Preparatory Reading (updated March 2013)
• The primary texts for the autumn term are:
• René Descartes: Discourse on Method, Meditations on First Philosophy.
• Baruch Spinoza: Ethics, Treatise on the Emendation of the Intellect.
• G.W. Leibniz: Discourse on Metaphysics, Monadology.
• The primary texts for the spring term are:
• Thomas Hobbes: Leviathan, for example, the Hackett edition or revised student edition, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: `The Discourses` and Other Early Political Writings: v. 1, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought.
• David Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and concerning the Principles of Morals, 3rd ed. (Nidditch/Selby-Bigge edition) or critical edition by Tom Beauchamp (Clarendon). **The Beauchamp editions are much more expensive but I have included them just in case students would like to purchase the edition most scholars use.
• David Hume: Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, for example, the Hackett edition (with a helpful introduction by J. B. Schneewind), or the Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, or the critical edition by Tom Beauchamp (Clarendon).
• Preparatory reading:
• Students wishing to do some preparation over the summer should begin with the following:
• René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy.
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Discourse on the Origin and Foundations of Inequality among Men.

Employability skills

Academic Skills	Professional Working Skills	Career Development	External Awareness	Personal Development Planning	Experience of Work
3	3	0	3	3	0
Specific skills: literacy; research, information, and communication skills; T: classes, feedback via mark sheets and in office hours; P and A: essays and exam