University of Essex

CS101-4-FY-CO:
Modern Revolutions in Science, Politics, and Culture

The details

Year: 2023/24

Department: Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)

Campus: Colchester Campus

Term: Full Year

Level: Undergraduate: Level 4

Status: Current

Start date: Thursday 05 October 2023

End date: Friday 28 June 2024

Credits: 30

Last updated: 15 September 2023

Requisites for this module

Pre-requisites: (none)

Co-requisites: (none)

Pre and / or co-requisites: (none)

Prohibited modules: CS111, CS112, PY111

Key module (requisite for): (none)

Key module for

BA T700 American Studies (United States),
BA T702 American Studies (United States) (UK Study),
BA T708 American Studies (United States) (Including Year Abroad),
BA T710 American Studies (United States) (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA T712 American Studies (United States) (UK Study) (Including Placement Year),
BA T770 American Studies (United States) (including Placement Year),
BA T7P3 American Studies (United States) with Film,
BA T7P4 American Studies (United States) with Film (Including Placement Year),
BA T7P5 American Studies (United States) with Film (UK Study),
BA T7W6 American Studies (United States) with Film (Including Year Abroad),
BA T7W8 American Studies (United States) with Film (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA R000 European Studies (Including Year Abroad),
BA R001 European Studies,
BA R002 European Studies (Including Placement Year),
BA R008 European Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA R9T8 European Studies and Modern Languages (Including Foundation Year),
BA R9T9 European Studies and Modern Languages,
BA R9R1 European Studies with French,
BA R9R8 European Studies with French (Including Foundation Year),
BA R9R2 European Studies with German,
BA R9R6 European Studies with German (Including Foundation Year),
BA R9R3 European Studies with Italian,
BA R9R7 European Studies with Italian (Including Foundation Year),
BA R9R4 European Studies with Spanish,
BA R9R9 European Studies with Spanish (Including Foundation Year),
BA T711 Latin American Studies (Including Year Abroad),
BA T721 Latin American Studies (Including Placement Year),
BA T731 Latin American Studies,
BA T7N3 Latin American Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA T7N2 Latin American Studies with Business Management,
BA T7N4 Latin American studies with Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA T7M8 Latin American studies with Human Rights (Including Foundation Year),
BA T7M9 Latin American Studies with Human Rights,
BA LQV0 Liberal Arts (Including Foundation Year),
BA Q900 Liberal Arts (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA QV00 Liberal Arts (Including Year Abroad),
BA V900 Liberal Arts,
BA V901 Liberal Arts (Including Placement Year),
BA L903 Global Studies,
BA L904 Global Studies (including year abroad),
BA L905 Global Studies (Including Placement Year),
BA L908 Global Studies (Including Foundation Year and Year Abroad),
BA LL37 Social Anthropology with Human Rights,
BA LL38 Social Anthropology with Human Rights (Including Year Abroad),
BA LL39 Social Anthropology with Human Rights (Including Placement Year),
BA LR04 Global Studies and Modern Languages (Including Year Abroad),
BA L910 Global Studies with Politics,
BA L911 Global Studies with Politics (Including year abroad),
BA L912 Global Studies with Politics (Including Placement Year),
BA L913 Global Studies with Politics (Including Foundation Year),
BA L914 Global Studies with Human Rights,
BA L916 Global Studies with Human Rights (Including Foundation Year),
BA L917 Global Studies with Human Rights (Including Placement Year),
BA L918 Global Studies with Human Rights (Including Year Abroad),
BA L400 Social Change,
BA L400PT Social Change,
BA L401 Social Change (Including Foundation Year),
BA L402 Social Change (including Placement Year),
BA L403 Social Change (including Year Abroad),
BA L933 Global Studies with Business Management,
BA L934 Global Studies with Business Management (Including Foundation Year),
BA L935 Global Studies with Business Management (Including Placement Year),
BA L936 Global Studies with Business Management (Including Year Abroad),
BA R104 Global Studies and Language Studies,
BA R105 Global Studies and Language Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA R108 European Studies and Language Studies,
BA R109 European Studies and Language Studies (Including Foundation Year),
BA L994 Global Studies with Latin American Studies,
BA L995 Global Studies with Latin American Studies (including Foundation Year),
BA L996 Global Studies with Latin American Studies (including Placement Year),
BA L997 Global Studies with Latin American Studies (including Year Abroad),
BA L990 Global Studies and Latin American Studies,
BA L991 Global Studies and Latin American Studies (including Foundation Year),
BA L992 Global Studies and Latin American Studies (including Placement Year),
BA L993 Global Studies and Latin American Studies (including Year Abroad),
BA C900 Global Studies with Sustainability,
BA C901 Global Studies with Sustainability (including Foundation Year),
BA C902 Global Studies with Sustainability (including Placement Year),
BA C903 Global Studies with Sustainability (including Year Abroad)

Module description

By examining the Enlightenment period, this module provides students with a crucial framework for understanding today`s dominant intellectual currents and social contexts.

This framework proves remarkably useful for students in their second and third year. Indeed, graduating students often rank it among the most useful modules they have taken.

Module aims

The aims of this module are:

To introduce students to the Enlightenment period that was pivotal for the formation of our modern world.

To provide students with a framework and background knowledge to navigate successfully their studies in future years.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

To read, assess and summarise the arguments of challenging texts.

To learn the conventions of an academic writing including structure, quotation, reference, and bibliography.

To show the ability to work from particular questions on a specific text, and to write a coherent essay in response.

To assess and evaluate specific arguments and texts and write a critical analysis.

To compare and contrast two or more selected texts in one particular aspect, and express their similarities and differences.

To explicate a set passage from one of the texts on the programme, to relate it to rest of the text and to fit it in the contextual, conceptual and comparative framework, the Enlightenment itself, established during the module.

To test the ability to respond to general, thematic questions that demand a broad grasp of the intellectual and historical developments considered in the module.

To analyse types of language of a set passage and to relate that language to historical and discursive factors.

Module information

The Enlightenment (roughly 1650-1800) was a politically and intellectually revolutionary period of history that defined the ideas that continue to shape the way we see ourselves and the world we live in – ideas like democracy, free speech, individualism, scientific evidence, free markets, and human rights.

Built on a spine of lectures delivered by experts from across the Faculties of Humanities and the Social Sciences, this interdisciplinary module covers topics such as slavery and anti-slavery revolts, how colonialism and technological change is reflected in literature of the time, early feminism, the American Revolution, the roots of capitalism, the aftermath of the Scientific Revolution, the origins of modern law and medicine, Rousseau`s critique of social inequality, the French Revolution, and Dutch Still Life paintings as expressions of modern subjectivity. We will draw on artworks, novels, political pamphlets, and speeches, as well as philosophical texts.

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be delivered via:

One 1-hour lecture per week.
One 1-hour class per week.

There will be a Reading Week each term when no teaching will take place - exact weeks to be confirmed

Bibliography

Kant, I. and Gregor, M.J. (1999) ‘Answer to the Question: “What is Enlightenment?”’, in Practical philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/practical-philosophy/an-answer-to-the-question-what-is-enlightenment-1784/B371F3835575A98E5FB7D3F156B18DBF.
Israel, J.I. (2001) Radical enlightenment: philosophy and the making of modernity, 1650-1750. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198206088.001.0001.
Juana Ines de la Cruz and Trueblood, A.S. (1988) A Sor Juana anthology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bacon, F. (2006) ‘The New Organon [1620]’, in Early Modern Philosophy. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Winstanley, G. (1983) ‘A New-Year’s gift for the parliament and army’, in C. Hill (ed.) The law of freedom, and other writings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 159–210. Available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/winstanley-the-law-of-freedom-and-other-writings/newyears-gift-for-the-parliament-and-army/A314367CE1FFA35F18D1C9A29EBF0B47.
Thomas Hobbes and J. C. A. Gaskin (1998) ‘Chapter XIII - XV’, in Leviathan. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 86–106. Available at: https://search-ebscohost-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=12309&site=ehost-live&authtype=sso&custid=s9814295.
Locke, J. and Macpherson, C.B. (1980) Second treatise of government. Indianapolis, Ind: Hackett. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=1403597.
Defoe, D. and Richetti, J.J. (2003) Robinson Crusoe. London: Penguin. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=415729.
Jonathan Swift, Claude Julien Rawson and Ian Higgins (2005) Gulliver’s travels. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=55815.
Declaration of Independence (1776) (no date). Available at: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Office%20of%20Citizenship/Citizenship%20Resource%20Center%20Site/Publications/PDFs/M-654.pdf.
Jefferson, T., Hardt, M. and Kindervater, G. (2007) The declaration of independence. London: Verso. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=5964862.
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) (no date). Available at: http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp.
Douglass, F. et al. (1999) ‘“The Meaning of July Four for the Negro” [better known as “The Meaning of July Four for the Slave”], 1852’, in Frederick Douglass: selected speeches and writings. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books, pp. 188–206. Available at: https://essex.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/view/action/uresolver.do?operation=resolveService&package_service_id=4188639210007346&institutionId=7346&customerId=7345&VE=true.
Wollstonecraft, M. (1999) ‘Chapter IV: Observations on the state of degradation to which woman is reduced by various causes’, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman & A Vindication of the Rights of Men. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://www-cambridge-org.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/core/books/wollstonecraft-a-vindication-of-the-rights-of-men-and-a-vindication-of-the-rights-of-woman-and-hints/0C59D444C53EC4C42008C4C77EADBE2E.
L’Ouverture, T., Aristide, J.-B. and Nesbitt, N. (2008) The Haitian revolution. London: Verso.
Rousseau, J.-J. (2009) Discourse on the origin of inequality. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=330736.
Sloane, H. and Birch, T. (1755) ‘An Account of Inoculation by Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. Given to Mr. Ranby, to be Published, Anno 1736. Communicated by Thomas Birch, D. D. Secret. R. S.’, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 49, pp. 516–520. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstl.1755.0073.
Letter XI-On Inoculation. Voltaire, François Marie Arouet de. 1909-14. Letters on the English. The Harvard Classics (no date). Available at: http://www.bartleby.com/34/2/11.html.
Brockden Brown, C. (1799) Arthur Mervyn: Or, Memoirs of the Year 1793. Available at: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18508.
Lord Byron’s speech in the House of Lords against the ‘Frame Work Bill’ [1812] (no date). Available at: https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1812/feb/27/frame-work-bill#S1V0021P0_18120227_HOL_7.
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and M. K. Joseph (1969) Frankenstein: or, The modern Prometheus. [1831 ed.]. London: Oxford U.P. Available at: https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/universityofessex-ebooks/detail.action?docID=4648678.

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam	Description	Deadline	Coursework weighting
Coursework	Reading Quizzes - Spring Total		14.4%
Coursework	Literature Review	17/10/2023	7.1%
Coursework	Annotated bibliography	31/10/2023	7.1%
Coursework	Essay plan	14/11/2023	14.4%
Coursework	Autumn Term Essay (1500 words)	14/12/2023	21.5%
Coursework	Peer Review	30/01/2024	7.1%
Coursework	Spring Term essay (1500 words)	27/02/2024	28.5%
Exam	Main exam: Remote, Open Book, 24hr during Summer (Main Period)
Exam	Reassessment Main exam: Remote, Open Book, 24hr during January
Exam	Reassessment Main exam: Remote, Open Book, 24hr during September (Reassessment Period)

Exam format definitions

Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework	Exam
70%	30%

Reassessment

Coursework	Exam
70%	30%

Module supervisor and teaching staff

Supervisor: Prof Fabian Freyenhagen, email: ffrey@essex.ac.uk.

Teaching staff: A range of staff from across the university will contribute to the module.

Contact details: PHAIS General Office - 6.130; isugadmin@essex.ac.uk.

Availability

Available to incoming Essex Abroad / Exchange students: No

Available to Outside Option: No

Available to Audit: Yes

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.

Resources

Teaching materials: Available via Moodle

Lecture recording: Of 53 hours, 37 (69.8%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
16 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

Further information

Department website: Philosophical, Historical and Interdisciplinary Studies (School of)

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The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.

Module Directory

CS101-4-FY-CO:Modern Revolutions in Science, Politics, and Culture