Ideas and Society in Modern Europe
What’s at stake in modern Europeans’ debates about:
•capitalism, socialism, and utopia;
•democracy, liberty, and tyranny;
•Christianity and morality;
•bureaucracy and the rationalization of social life;
•sexuality and feminism;
•power and resistance;
•and multiculturalism?
This course surveys one of the central areas of European intellectual history since the eighteenth century by focusing on a series of powerful analyses of these issues as they emerged in the European version of modernity. We will begin with the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and take the story right up to our own times, including contemporary authors. The course addresses a long period of time and major issues and authors, but it trades off coverage in order to take in-depth looks at particular thinkers and the contexts that informed their work.
What is intellectual history?
This is a course in intellectual history. That means two things: we need to understand the contexts of the issues and the texts we are examining; and we need to think carefully and in detail about the texts themselves. All required readings are in primary sources—writings by the thinkers themselves rather than about them.
How the course will work
In each unit, the first class and part of the second will be devoted to lectures, with questions and discussion always welcome. The rest of our second session for each unit will be reserved for discussion of the readings. The lectures will set up the week’s readings by providing contexts--personal, social, political, and ideational—for the readings, and are intended to pave the way for intensive discussion of the texts themselves.
Attendance at discussions and informed participation in them are key—and required—parts of this course.
Prerequisites and level
There are no specific prerequisites for this course. It is intended for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students from a variety of disciplines. I would ask that sophomores speak with me before enrolling. An interest in the issues is essential. Some knowledge of the general outlines of modern European or American history, or the history of social and political issues, or the history of philosophy will be helpful.