The eighteenth century European Enlightenment promoted the values of humanism, progress, and reason. Great thinkers like Voltaire, David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Adam Smith provided new philosophical and political ideas, and new ways of thinking about the relationship between the individual and society, leading ultimately to the French and American revolutions. Were these Enlightenment thinkers naive optimists who overestimated the ability of human reason to understand the world and to reshape it? Or were they visionaries, whose insights we can still learn from and whose great project remains unfinished?

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

SUGGESTED READING

• Roy Porter, The Enlightenment
• Peter Gay, The Enlightenment: An Interpretation
• Steven Pinker, Enlightenment Now!
• Voltaire, Letters from England
• Hume, Dialogues on Natural Religion
• Kant, What is Enlightenment?
• Smith, Wealth of Nations
• Hamilton, Jefferson and Madison, Federalist Papers

COURSE OUTLINE

• The meaning of the term “Enlightenment” and the social and political context of eighteenth century Europe
• The Enlightenment’s leading theories as they relate to philosophy, science, society and politics
• How the conflict between science and religion shaped the modern world
• Consideration of the conflict between reason and tradition in philosophical and political thought
• An introduction to the ideas of leading Enlightenment thinkers, including Voltaire, Hume, Kant and Smith
• Reflection on the Enlightenment’s values of humanism, progress and reason and whether they still remain relevant

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Explain the significance of the Enlightenment in the development of modern thought
2. Understand the key concepts developed by Enlightenment thinkers to explain the physical world and human society
3. Assess the strengths and limits of Enlightenment ideas of reason and progress
4. Think critically about the continuing relevance of Enlightenment ideas and the extent to which they remain valid today