THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology)

Postgraduate Course: Athens of the North: the Origins and Ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment (online) (PGHC11393)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course typeOnline Distance Learning AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course provides an introduction to the advanced study of Scottish intellectual history in the period 1660-1780. The course will examine the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment and introduce students to some of its key ideas. Ranging across history, philosophy, religion, science and law, the course will sample the works of writers including Hutcheson, Hume, Robertson, Smith and Ferguson.
Course description This course provides an introduction to the advanced study of Scottish intellectual history in the period 1660-1780. The course will examine the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment and introduce students to some of its key ideas. Ranging across history, philosophy, religion, science and law, the course will sample the works of writers including Hutcheson, Hume, Robertson, Smith and Ferguson. The course will also discuss the Enlightenment's social context, from drink-fuelled taverns to university lecture theatres. Each class session will address a particular theme or author. The first sessions will engage with recent debates about the origins and character of the Scottish Enlightenment, examining the contributions of international influences and indigenous traditions of learning. The course will then turn to a series of major authors, topics and approaches. Here emphasis will be placed on close reading of primary sources, as well as wider matters of interpretation. Students will gain from the course knowledge of the interests of Scotland's eighteenth-century intellectuals, and the ability critically to assess recent debates about the Scottish Enlightenment's sources and nature.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  21
Course Start Semester 1
Course Start Date 20/09/2021
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Online Activities 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) One 1,000 word book review (20%) and one 3,000 word essay (80%).
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate a detailed and critical command of the main historical arguments surrounding the origins and significance of the Scottish Enlightenment
  2. Analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship concerning the Scottish Enlightenment, primary source materials including works by Enlightenment authors, and conceptual discussions about this period of Scottish history
  3. Develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in oral and written form by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course
  4. Demonstrate originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy
Reading List
Extracts from various sources including the following:

Francis Hutcheson, An Inquiry into the Original of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue, 4th edn. (1738)

David Hume, The History of Great Britain (1754)

William Robertson, The History of the Reign of the Emperor Charles V (1769)

Adam Ferguson, An Essay on the History of Civil Society (Edinburgh, 1767)

John Millar, The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks, 3rd edn. (London: John Murray, 1779) via ECCO.

Secondary literature
Hugh Trevor-Roper, 'The Scottish Enlightenment', Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 58 (1967), pp. 1635-58

John Robertson, 'The Scottish contribution to the Enlightenment', IHR e-seminars in History, 1997: http://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/4408/1/The_Scottish_Contribution_to_the_Enlightenment_by_John_Robertson___Institute_of_Historical_Research.pdf

Paul Wood, Introduction: Dugald Stewart and the invention of "the Scottish Enlightenment", in Paul Wood (ed.), The Scottish Enlightenment: Essays in Reinterpretation (Rochester, N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 2000)

Roger L. Emerson, 'Scottish cultural change 1660-1710 and the union of 1707', in John Robertson (ed.), A Union for Empire: Political Thought and the British Union of 1707 (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1995)

Paul Wood, 'The scientific revolution in Scotland', in Roy Porter and Mikulás Teich (eds.), The Scientific Revolution in National Context (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1992)

Roger L. Emerson, 'Science and the origins and concerns of the Scottish Enlightenment', History of Science, 26 (1988), pp. 333-66 [online]

James Moore, 'The two systems of Francis Hutcheson: on the origins of the Scottish Enlightenment', in M.A. Stewart (ed.), Studies in the Philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment (Oxford: Oxford U.P., 1990)
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills The study of the past gives students a unique understanding of the present that will enable them to succeed in a broad range of careers. The transferable skills gained from this course include:
- understanding of complex issues and how to draw valid conclusions from the past
- ability to analyse the origins and development of current historiographical debates
- a command of bibliographical and library- and/or IT-based online and offline research skills
- a range of skills in reading and textual analysis
- ability to question and problematize evidence; considering the relationship between evidence and interpretation
- ability to marshal arguments lucidly, coherently and concisely, both orally and in writing
- ability to deliver a paper or a presentation in front of peer audiences
- ability to design and execute pieces of written work and to present them suitably, as evidenced by the final assessment essay of 3,000 words
KeywordsAthens North Enlightenment
Contacts
Course organiserDr Alasdair Raffe
Tel: (0131 6)51 4269
Email: Alasdair.Raffe@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk
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