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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : English Literature

Postgraduate Course: Renaissance Scepticism (ENLI11086)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
Summary This course will explore how the revival of sceptical thought in the Renaissance affected a range of key literary works. The course will investigate the development of sceptical thinking from the early sixteenth century in terms of some of its core preoccupations: problems of perception and trust, religious divisions, the nature and existence of God, sexual difference, the role of intellectuals within the State, the status of non-European cultures. The ways in which literary texts explore these questions will be examined especially in relation to their adoption of sceptical modes of composition. A range of different literary forms will considered - the essay, lyric poetry, satire, dramatic comedies and tragedies - along with a range of English and European writers, including Thomas More, Machiavelli, Montaigne, Marlowe, John Donne, Shakespeare and Francis Bacon. Students will also explore how contemporary philosophers and critics have engaged with the varieties of Renaissance scepticism and the current debate over its legacy in the work of Derrida, Stanley Cavell and Victoria Kahn.



Course description Not entered
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
Students who complete the course successfully will have explored some of the ways in which Renaissance writing responded to the challenges presented by sceptical thought. By reading a range of different literary forms they will understand how different elements within the sceptical tradition could be appropriated and developed. Students will also have examined the continuing debate provoked by this mode of thinking in contemporary critical thought.
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsRenaissance literature Renaissance philosophy scepticism
Contacts
Course organiserDr Dermot Cavanagh
Tel: (0131 6)50 3618
Email: Dermot.Cavanagh@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Natalie Carthy
Tel: (0131 6)50 6536
Email: Natalie.Carthy@ed.ac.uk
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