British Enlightenment: Moral and Political Thought from Hobbes to Smith (P01718)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 11 ? Acronym : HCA-P-BritEnlig

This course will explore some great works of anglophone moral and political theory. It will analyse some of the most important ideas about human nature and society, and examine key conceptions of liberty, natural rights, natural law, justice, virtue, prudence and political obligation. It will consider a sweep of texts, from Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan to Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments.
It is within this rich selection of texts that we find the view that political society originates through contract. This influential view, formulated by Hobbes and John Locke, was then rejected by David Hume, who argued instead that history and passion, not consent and reason cause men to join each other in communities. This argument about the origin of society is part of a widespread debate about the relationship between the individual and society, and between self-interest and sociability. Is a man intelligible independent of his community? Can we have a science of human nature? Do we need the terrifying power of the state to make us live together peacefully and prosperously, or can we cooperate without coercion? Is our love for our fellow human beings motivated by love for ourselves? A major source of dispute was the foundation of morality. Some argued that it was God who laid down right and wrong in the form of an objective natural law. Others argued that good and bad are merely subjective perceptions on the part of men. New theories were developed about the origins of the rules of justice, overturning the old divine story and replacing it with a complex mesh of pleasure, pain, selfishness and sympathy. A fascinating array of answers was given to the question of the source of virtue. It was seen to follow variously from fear of hell and desire for heaven, from natural affection for others, from a burning desire to be applauded by them, from identification, from beauty, and even from vice.

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Postgraduate (School of History and Classics), (School of History, Classics and Archaeology, Schedule E)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : Postgraduate

? Delivery Period : Semester 1 (Blocks 1-2)

? Contact Teaching Time : 1 hour(s) 50 minutes per week for 11 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
19/09/2007	09:00	10:50			William Robertson 203

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students will:
- gain an analytical grasp of some of the most important works and - in anglophone moral and political theory.
- learn how to read seventeenth and eighteenth century texts, and to understand the relationships between them.
- learn about the ineluctable connection between texts and their contexts.