ClassInfo - Fall 2020 History Classes

Fall 2020 | HIST 3281 Section 001: European Intellectual History: The Early Modern Period, Antiquity to 1750 (34415)

Instructor(s): JB Shank
Class Component:: Lecture
Credits:: 3 Credits
Grading Basis:: Student Option
Instructor Consent:: No Special Consent Required
Instruction Mode:: In Person Term Based
Times and Locations:: Regular Academic Session

09/08/2020 - 12/16/2020

Mon, Wed 09:45AM - 11:00AM

UMTC, East Bank

Anderson Hall 370
Enrollment Status:: Open (8 of 25 seats filled)

Course Catalog Description:: First of a two-semester course. European thought in its historical/cultural context. Emphasizes development of philosophical/scientific thought, its relation to thinking about the individual and the community. Readings from original sources.
Class Description:: This course is part I of a two-semester introduction to modern European intellectual history. It will cover the period that stretches from the Antique beginnings of modern European thought (Socrates, etc.) up to the eighteenth century. The course will study thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Paul, Augustine, Dante, Ibn Tufayl, Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, Locke, and the Enlightenment thinkers responsible for the principles of the U.S. Constitution and the modern foundations of democratic government. Given recent events, the course will pursue a specific focus on the question of human rights, slavery, and the relationship between liberty and authority in Western thought. Other topics to be explored include the relationship between myth and philosophy in Antiquity, the role of Christianity and Islam as new philosophical-religious programs, and the connection between the global expansion of Europe after 1492 and the rise of the modern Western polities, along with the foundations of global empire. Readings will be drawn from the original philosophical texts of the historical figures we will study, and the class will combine lectures with intensive discussion. Students will be asked to write short papers analyzing the texts they are reading, and longer critical essays as their primary written assignments.
Grading:: 60% Reports/Papers
25% Written Homework
15% Class Participation
Class Format:: This class is listed as an "in-person" class, but much of the work will be done remotely using online technologies, and many of the assignments will be done via Canvas. Students who need accommodation because of the risks involved with in-person gathering due to the Corona virus WILL BE ACCOMMODATED, and this course is open to any student regardless of their level of comfort with in-person gatherings. My plan is to meet with enrolled students at the start of the semester and to work out an arrangement for combining in-person and remote access to the class appropriate to the needs of the students. Please address any questions about these issues to me at jbshank@umn.edu.
Workload:: 100-150 Pages Reading Per Week
15 Pages Writing Per Term
2 Paper(s)
12 Homework Assignment(s)
Other Workload: The homework assignments will be (roughly) weekly assignments to write about the texts being studed.
Textbooks:: https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/34415/1209
Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:: 18 July 2020

ClassInfo Links - Fall 2020 History Classes

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