To foster critical understanding of some of the major names, ideas and events that shaped late Western modernity, and to enable students to develop a conceptual ‘map’ of those ‘landmarks’.
To enable an understanding of some of the ways in which Nineteenth, Twentieth and early Twenty-First Century concerns have been shaped by the repercussions of, and by reactions to, key elements of Enlightenment thought.
To use intellectual historical material to illuminate contemporary cultural, political and philosophical concerns.
To facilitate a critical engagement with the relation between influential ideas and the historical and social conditions of their emergence.
To place intellectual historical material in critical dialogue with contemporary concerns.
To provide a broad basis of knowledge able to support students’ further work at level five and their subsequent work at level six.
To deliver research-led teaching, and to facilitate students’ development of their own research skills.
To enable the development of skills in the oral communication and discussion of course material.

(LO1) Students will be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of some of the major figures, ideas and events within the intellectual history of the period covered by the module.

(LO2) Students will be able to contextualise ideas introduced and discussed on the course by placing them in relation to the historical contexts in which they emerged.

(LO3) Students will evidence an ability to critically assess material introduced on the course by discussing and responding to set seminar questions.

(LO4) Students will demonstrate an ability to place the course’s intellectual-historical material in relation to contemporary concerns in both written and oral work.

(LO5) Students will demonstrate an ability to grasp and summarise the salient features of topics presented on the course.

(S1) Students will improve their familiarity with the intellectual history of the time-periods and contexts addressed on the course.

(S2) Students will enhance their ability to conduct interdisciplinary work.

(S3) Students will enhance their abilities in reading, understanding, and critically assessing texts.

(S4) Students will enhance their ability to marshal arguments and present them orally.

(S5) Students will enhance their ability to marshal arguments and present them in writing.

(S6) Students will develop their oral and written communication skills and their capacities to debate ideas in seminar discussions.

(S7) Students will gain knowledge able to facilitate their further study of philosophy and of the humanities more broadly.

(S8) Students will develop their ability to work both independently and collectively.

(S9) Students will enhance their capacity to participate, in a respectful manner, in debates about controversial and socially important matters.

This syllabus may shift year to year, depending on the interests and specialisms of the members of staff who deliver this module. The course’s content may, however, include topics such as the following:

Darwin
Marx
Nietzsche
Freud
World War One and mechanised society
The Russian Revolution and its aftermath
The Frankfurt School
Modernity and the Holocaust
First, second and third generation feminisms
May 1968 and the civil rights movement
What is (or was) ‘postmodernism’?
Conclusion (how might we understand the present in the light of this past material?)

Material such as the items indicated above will be presented and framed as elements of a module-long narrative that works in conjunction with, but which can function in the absence of, the corresponding narrative employed in the first part of this course (PHIL235: Modernity and Critical Thought 1: Enlightenment and Social Change). This narrative may change depending on the interests of the staff who deliver the module, but an indicative example would be the presentation of an account of the trajectory of Enlightenment demystification and critique: how might that line of thought lead towards unpicking cherished conceptions of identity, reason and autonomy (Darwin, Marx, Freud, Nietzsche), and how might it lead further to the scepticisms and confusions of the ‘postmodern’ moment? A central theme may be the concern set out in Adorno and Horkheimer’s Dialectic of Enlightenment: did the supposed path from barbarism to culture, and from myth to enlightenment, lead towards the generation of new forms of barbarism and myth? In pursuing questions such as these, the module builds on (but does not require prior engagement with) PHIL235.

Teaching Method 1 - Lecture 
Description: Lectures are tutor-led activities, offering a map of the syllabus and a framework for independent enquiry-led research. Students are encouraged to engage actively with lectures through, for example: (i) taking opportunities to ask questions during the session; (ii) reflecting on and responding to questions posed to them; (iii) producing questions and notes on issues for subsequent group discussion in seminars.

Lectures may take place online if required.

Attendance Recorded: No 
 
Teaching Method 2 - Seminar 
Description: Seminars are formative spaces of applied and enquiry-led learning based on pre-set readings and facilitated by the tutor. Seminars thus offer opportunities for students to respond to tutor- and peer-set questions, deepen understanding, apply ideas, develop arguments and build confidence through group discussion. Support and guidance are provided throughout the cour se to enable students to develop and employ skills in oral and group work.

Seminars may take place online if required.

Attendance Recorded: Yes