HIST 350
MODERN EUROPEAN INTELLECTUAL HISTORY
- Catalog Entry
HIST 350 Modern European Intellectual History (B)
Three hours lecture (3).
Prerequisite: Three hours of history at 100 level.
Explores the relationship between thought and its social context in Europe since 1750. The course draws on philosophical, scientific, and cultural texts, and focuses on the political implications of philosophical reflection, scientific investigation, and cultural criticism.
- Detailed Description of Content of Course
The course will be roughly divided into three sections. The first section will deal with trends in European intellectual history until the late 19th century: idealism, romanticism, utilitarianism and liberalism, positivism, and the philosphies of history of Hegel and Marx. The second section of the course will deal with representative examples of the crisis in European thought which occurred around the turn of the century: Nietzsche’s cultural criticism, Freud’s psychoanalytic theory, and Weber’s sociological analysis. The third section of the course will deal with trends in 20th-century European intellectual history: existentialism, Marxism as an intellectual tradition, structuralism, and deconstruction.
- Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
The course relies on the integration of lectures and seminar-style discussions. Lectures will focus on the historical contexts in which selected philosophical, scientific, and cultural texts appaered. Each reading will also be tackled in a seminar-style discussion, which will be led by either an individual student or small groups of students. The student(s) will have studied a commentary on the assigned reading, and will lead a discussion on the issues raised by the author. The other participants, in the seminar will be responsible for situating those issues in the historical context in which the text was written and read.
- Goals and Objectives of the Course
Upon completion of the course, the students should:
1. Be familiar with the major trends in European intellectual history since 1750
2. Be able to recognize and identify the major figures of european intellectual history during this period
3. Be familiar with the political implications, in Europe since 1750, of selected examples of philosophical reflection, scientific, investigation, and cultural criticism - i.e. be able to set the ideas we discuss in historical context
4. Be able to express, in written and oral form, aspects of the information outlined above.
This course is primarily designed for history majors, although it should be of interest to majors in other disciplines, particularly Political Science and Philosophy.
- Assessment Measures
Assessment of student outcomes will be based on (a) three (essay format) written examinations, (b) completion of shorter weekly writing assignments on each of the readings and discussion topics, (c) success in leading an in-claas seminar discussion on a selected reading, and (d) the preparation of a written research paper on that selected reading.
- Other Course Information
None.
- Approval and Reviews
Date Action Reviewed by
January 2005 Reviewed and Approved by Charles McClellan