THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2019/2020

University Homepage
DRPS Homepage
DRPS Search
DRPS Contact
DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : History

Undergraduate Course: Intellectual History from Montesquieu to Marx (HIST10257)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe course introduces students to some of the most important texts in western moral and political thought in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The authors examined include Montesquieu, Rousseau, Hume, Smith, Burke, Kant, Hegel, and Marx.
Course description This course aims to introduce students to some of the most important texts in western political and moral thought in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, namely those of Montesquieu, Rousseau, Hume, Smith, Burke, Kant, Hegel, and Marx. It will examine theories of government, social inequality, freedom, political economy, and the social contract. At all times, it will situate the ideas in their historical contexts, showing how they are both constrained by and instrumental in shaping events. As with the other intellectual history courses, this course is distinctive in engaging students with close textual analysis of primary sources.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements A pass or passes in 40 credits of first level historical courses or equivalent and a pass or passes in 40 credits of second level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, PTs are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 503780).
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students must have 3 History courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses. Enrolments for this course are managed by the CAHSS Visiting Student Office, in line with the quotas allocated by the department. All enquiries to enrol must be made through the CAHSS Visiting Student Office. It is not appropriate for students to contact the department directly to request additional spaces.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  19
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Summative Assessment Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 172 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 50 %, Coursework 50 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) One 3000 word essay worth one half of overall assessment and one two-hour examination worth one half of overall assessment.
Feedback Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours or by appointment.
Exam Information
Exam Diet Paper Name Hours & Minutes
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)2:00
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, command of the body of knowledge considered in the course;
  2. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship;
  3. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilise a variety of primary source material;
  4. demonstrate, by way of coursework and examination as required, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence;
  5. demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
Reading List
A. O. Hirschman, The Passions and the Interests. Arguments for Capitalism before its Triumph (Princeton, NJ, 1977; 2nd ed. 1997).

I. Hont, 'The Luxury Debate in the Early Enlightenment', in M. Goldie and R. Wokler (ed.), The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought (Cambridge, 2006), pp. 379-418.

N. Phillipson, David Hume: the philosopher as historian (London, 2011).

F. C. Beiser, 'Hegel and Hegelianism', in: G. Stedman Jones (ed.), The Cambridge
History of Nineteenth-Century Political Thought (Cambridge, 2011).

Gareth Stedman Jones, The Young Hegelians, Marx and Engels, in Gareth Stedman
Jones (ed.), The Cambridge History of Nineteenth-Century Political Thought (as above).
(Cambridge, 2011), pp. 556 ' 600.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsMontesquieu to Marx
Contacts
Course organiserDr Thomas Ahnert
Tel: (0131 6)50 3777
Email: Thomas.Ahnert@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Lorna Berridge
Tel:
Email: Lorna.Berridge@ed.ac.uk
Navigation
Help & Information
Home
Introduction
Glossary
Search DPTs and Courses
Regulations
Regulations
Degree Programmes
Introduction
Browse DPTs
Courses
Introduction
Humanities and Social Science
Science and Engineering
Medicine and Veterinary Medicine
Other Information
Combined Course Timetable
Prospectuses
Important Information