Module Descriptors
THE HISTORY OF MODERN IDEAS I
PHIL50255
Key Facts
School of Digital, Technologies and Arts
Level 5
30 credits
Contact
Leader: Hugh Burnham
Hours of Study
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: 44
Independent Study Hours: 256
Total Learning Hours: 300
Assessment
  • PORTFOLIO weighted at 100%
Module Details
Module Additional Assessment Details
Totalling the equivalent of 5000 words (Learning Outcomes 1-4)

Key information set data:
100% coursework.
Module Resources
Library facilities, online learning facilities.
Module Texts
Beethoven. (2006) Fidelio. Cond. Bernstein. Universal Classics DVD.
Blake, William. (2000) The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. Dover.
Byron, Lord. (2009) Manfred. Wilder.
Coleridge, Samuel. (2008) Biographia Literaria in The Major Works. Oxford.
Locke, John. (1996) Some Thoughts Concerning Education. Hackett.
Swift, Jonathan. (2009) 'An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity', in The Essential Writings of Jonathan Swift. Norton.
Thompson, James. (1793) The Seasons. pdf on archive.org
Voltaire. (2002) Micromegas. In Micromegas and Other Short Fictions. Trans. Cuffe. Penguin.
Module Indicative Content
This module will present key ideas characteristic of the 18th and 19th Centuries in Europe, including those of the scientific revolution and Enlightenment, liberal and revolutionary politics in both centuries, romanticism, critical hermeneutics and Darwinism. The module will comprise reading and discussion of original texts, but also explore the interaction of these ideas on wider cultural or social movements and events. We will focus particularly on cultural artefacts, novels, plays, music, political pamphlets, cartoons or satires, etc. The module should be of interest to students of history, sociology, politics or literature, among others, insofar as it provides context for their other studies, and insofar as it provides a number of cases studies of the reciprocal influence of various types of culture (understood very broadly).
Module Learning Strategies
This module will be entirely taught through a series of workshops, two hours per week. The workshops will permit a flexible use of time, divided as the subject requires between brief lectures, screenings, group discussion, or small group work.

Key information set data:
15% scheduled learning and teaching activities
85% guided independent learning