Postgraduate Course: Man and the Natural World in the Enlightenment (PGHC11205)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Course type | Standard |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits | 20 |
| Home subject area | Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology) |
Other subject area | None |
| Course website |
None |
Taught in Gaelic? | No |
| Course description | This is a course on the history of science in the Enlightenment. Developments in scientific knowledge can be seen, in many ways, to have provided the defining ethos for the whole Enlightenment movement; dramatic changes in natural philosophy and the understanding of the physical world provided the inspiration and the foundation for the Age of Reason. The course will explore:
- The origins of the Enlightenment in the scientific movement of the seventeenth century (especially the work of Francis Bacon, Rene Descartes, and Isaac Newton).
- The various ways in which the aim of the Enlightenment was to provide a 'science of man', including the origins of scientific psychology and a rational basis for morality.
- The variety of ways in which religion interacted with the scientific worldview, contrasting the tradition of natural theology in Britain with the more secular approach in France, and considering the rise of deism and atheism.
- The impact of new scientific discoveries on the culture of the Enlightenment, including electricity, magnetism, developments in chemistry, and in the life sciences, and new ideas about light, heat, and energy.
- The ways in which even supposedly technical knowledge can be shown to reflect the social and political (including religious) preoccupations of the discoverers and propagators of that knowledge.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Delivery period: 2013/14 Semester 2, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Learn enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
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Web Timetable |
Web Timetable |
| Course Start Date |
13/01/2014 |
| Breakdown of 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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| Additional Notes |
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| Breakdown of Assessment Methods (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| No Exam Information |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the course will have acquired an in-depth knowledge and understanding of crucial aspects of the cultural and intellectual history and historiography of science in the Enlightenment. In particular, they will have acquired:
- an awareness of the role of science in the historical development of European culture, particularly of the eighteenth-century.
- an ability to appreciate the constructive interaction between ideas and the historical contexts in which they are developed.
- skills in the methods and approaches of intellectual history. In particular to be able (i): to analyse coherent (though now rejected) systems of ideas about nature and society, (ii): to locate ideas in their historical contexts, (iii): to assess critically the extent of the Enlightenment's contribution to modern cultural values.
- a critical understanding of how dominant cultural values are established and challenged, and to be able to apply this understanding to contemporary culture.
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Assessment Information
| One essay of 3000 words. |
Special Arrangements
| None |
Additional Information
| Academic description |
Not entered |
| Syllabus |
Not entered |
| Transferable skills |
Not entered |
| Reading list |
Not entered |
| Study Abroad |
Not entered |
| Study Pattern |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Man Natural World Enlightenment |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr John Henry
Tel: (0131 6)50 4262
Email: John.Henry@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk |
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© Copyright 2013 The University of Edinburgh - 13 January 2014 4:52 am
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