2024/2025
Intellectual Landscapes: Society, Commerce and Politics
Type:
Mago-Lego
When:
2 module
Open to:
students of one campus
Instructors:
Герцо-Виноградская Анастасия Игоревна
Language:
English
ECTS credits:
3
Course Syllabus
Abstract
COURSE DESCRIPTION: The course of the practically oriented seminars aims to introduce students to a range of the political and intellectual concepts, their emergence, evolution and the contemporary usage in political, public and social discussions. The course seeks to highlight the historic and social contexts as well as dynamic changes and multifaceted usage of the concepts in a variety of discourses. The course deals with the so-called "complementary" concepts/ideas such as politeness, taste, luxury, the beautiful and the sublime alongside with purely political ones such as sovereignty, monarchy and republicanism. The nexus of the ideas generated on the cusp of the emergence of "the commercial society" concomitant with the core Enlightenment thought on the nature of the political and social life is discussed. The course examines various conceptions of virtue, sympathy and happiness in relation to politics, forms of the political organisation and the common good. The innovative element of the course includes listening to the authentic audio materials(podcasts) that elucidate the concepts and provide comprehensive view of the historic setting, social and cultural milieu that generated or adopted and transformed them, seeking resolution for the pressing challenges of the moment. The course offers the students ample opportunities for active engagement with the course by encouraging them to produce presentations, organise discussions and analyse the concepts in the contemporary pan-European contexts.
Learning Objectives
- To achieve improved overall understanding of the political, economic and social contexts that generated the intellectual concepts;
- To enhance ability of fluent speaking on a range of abstract concepts;
- To enrich the vocabulary that deals with expressing opinions/formulating arguments;
- To enhance the ability to analyse the complex information;
- To enhance listening skills.
Expected Learning Outcomes
- analyses the political, social and cultural contexts related to the intellectual ideas;
- comprehends fully complex audio information on abstract subjects (intellectual concepts);
- uses intellectual concepts with related academic terms, expressions and notions;
- improves speaking skills to discuss intellectual concepts/social contexts fluently;
- has enhanced vocabulary;
Course Contents
- Introduction & The Culture of Politeness, sociability and clubbability in the context of Enlightenments.
- The concept of "taste" and its implications for the commercial society.
- The nexus of the ideas about virtue and beauty in contemporaneous discussions (the 18th century).
- Lecture: "Luxury, politics and patriotism" in European economic, social and political thought.
- Modern contexts: sociability, civility and the public opinion.
- Lecture: Sympathy and secularisation.
- Community and imagination: the role of imagination in contemporary political thinking (B. Anderson's "imagined communities").
- Lecture: Happiness (eudaimonia) in Antiquity: various conceptions in philosophical and political thought.
- Pleasure, leisure and commerce: ancient thought and modern perspectives.
- The Sublime: exploring the evolution of the concept from Longinus to E. Burke.
- Lecture: The Sublime in aesthetic, moral and political contexts.
- Sovereignty: brief historical overview of the concept.
- Lecture: Perspectives on sovereignty and authority.
- Popular sovereignty: since emergence to contemporary trans-national political structures.
Assessment Elements
- Oral assessmentIndividual presentations on a range of themes associated with the concepts discussed is worth 15 points. Individual presentation is an oral presentation delivered at the class (10-15 min). Students choose the subjects/themes for the presentation from the lists provided beforehand. The presentations cover various aspects of the concept(s) discussed, individual thinkers, debates, social contexts and practices involved. The students produce the presentation using the audio/ printed materials either provided or recommended as well as the sources of their own choice.
- Written examWritten examination is carried out for 2 academic hours. The students are provided with the list of the questions in advance. The students receive an assignment that contains two questions: the question that deals with theoretical/historical aspects of the concepts considered and the question that covers social contexts/practices involved. The students are asked to produce a written response (narration) of overall 500-750 words. Alternatively, the students are provided with the prompt cards that contain quotations from the philosophers/political/ thinkers/essayists and are asked to produce a written response elaborating on the quotation. The students may be exempt from the exam based on their performance during the seminars.
- Written assessmentThe final research essay on history, evolution, various aspects, social practices associated with and the contemporary usage of the relevant concept/s (approximate length 1,000 words) is worth 30. Written research essay is a research essay on history, evolution, re-conceptualisation and various aspects of the concept/s, social practices associated with the concepts as well as the contemporary usage of the relevant concept/s (approximate length 1000 words). The research essay should be of an original character and demonstrate the full and sure theoretical grasp of the concept(s) as well as the ability to analyse social contexts, providing illuminating examples, using the relevant theoretical perspectives. The students are welcome to come up with the topics of their own based on the issues/topics discussed: taste, social practices, commercial networks, art and taste, etc.
Interim Assessment
- 2024/2025 2nd module0.15 * Oral assessment + 0.55 * Written assessment + 0.3 * Written exam
Bibliography
Recommended Core Bibliography
- The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy / Klosko, G — Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011. — 856 с. — ISBN 9780199238804. — URL: https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199238804.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199238804 (дата обращения: 30.08.2019). — Текст : электронный.
Recommended Additional Bibliography
- Bourke, R., & Skinner, Q. (2016). Popular Sovereignty in Historical Perspective. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1159348