World Intellectual History

Bachelor 2020/2021

Type: Elective course (HSE University and University of London Double Degree Programme in Economics)

Area of studies: Economics

Delivered by: International College of Economics and Finance

Where: International College of Economics and Finance

When: 1 year, 1-4 module

Mode of studies: offline

Instructors: Alexander Koryagin, Dominic Rubin, Alexandra Tsareva

Language: English

ECTS credits: 6

Contact hours: 112

Full Syllabus

Abstract

World Intellectual History is a two semester course which covers the history of the leading intellectual trends and ideas that have had an impact on the development of the cultures and civilizations of the world.  The course material is introduced through both original historical texts and secondary sources  The time period covered begins with emergence of the first civilizations and ends in the present day  The course covers major developments around the globe including Europe, Asia and the Americas

Learning Objectives

• Understanding of the origins and development of the ideas that inform the cultures and civilizations that constitute the present world order
• The ability to critically analyse information and incorporate it appropriately into a well-supported argument

Expected Learning Outcomes

To conceptualise Intellectual History as a separate discipline in its own right, to define its objectives and basic methods.
To characterise the key ideas of the Ancient Chinese Thinkers, including Confucius, Laozi and the Legalist tradition.
To characterise the key ideas of Ancient India, including the tradition of Buddhism
To compare the key ideas of the Ancient Monotheistic traditions, including Zoroastianism and Judaism
To characterise the key ideas of Greek thinkers from Thales to Aristotle, including: the debate around virtue, justice, truth and the possibility of rational explanation of the universe.
To characterise the key ideas of the Hellenistic Schools, including the traditions of Cynics, Epicureans, Stoics and Skeptics
To characterise the key ideas of the various traditions of early Christianities, including Ebionites, Marcionites, Gnostics and the Proto-Orthodox.
To characterise the key ideas of the early Islamic tradition, including composition and the main idea of the Quran.
To characterise the key ideas of the Medieval Christian civilization, including the main debates in Theology around the knowability, existence and attributes of the Divine.
To be able to use the key ideas of the Medieval Indian philosophy, including Advaita Vedanta and the issue around the identity of Atman and Brahman.
To compare Buddhism and Confucianism in China, including the relationship between the monastic ideal and the duty to the state.
To characterise the key ideas of the Medieval Islamic civilization, including the main debates in Theology around the knowability, existence and attributes of the Divine.
To characterise the key ideas of the The Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution, including the main philosophical ideas of the Scientific Revolution from Copernicus and Galileo to Kepler and Newton.
To characterise the key ideas of the Medieval-early modern Islamic politics, including the relationship between the Caliphate and the Empire.
To characterise the key ideas of the European Enlightenment, primarily of Immanuel Kant, including his contributions to epistemology and moral philosophy.
To characterise the key ideas of the European Couter-Enlightenment, including Romanticism and Political Conservatism of Burke and Hegel.
To outline the key political ideas of modernity in the Islamic world.
To characterise the key Political Ideologies in 19th Century Europe, including Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, and Nationalism.
To characterise the key ideas of Modern Asia, including the main intellectual currents of modern China and Japan.
To analise the key ideas of Modern Russia, including the perceived relationship between its Asian and European tendencies.
To characterise the key ideas of Modern India, including the issues around the anti-colonial struggle.
To characterise the key ideas of World Communism, including the debates around Leninism, Stalinism and Maoism.
To evaluatr the key ideas of Late Capitalism and ‘Post-Modernity’, including the Frankfurt School and the French Postmodernism.
To characterise the key debated around Globalisation, including pro-globalist and anti-globalist movements.
To tie the various topics explored in the second semester of the course together on a deeper level of understanding; to characterize the basic problems of Modern Intellectual History and the potential solutions to them.

Course Contents

Introduction
• What is intellectual history? • Origin of the state, writing and culture; the first civilizations: Mesopotamia and Egypt. The role of religion and myth in the first states.
Ancient China
• Main features of Daoism, Confucianism and Legalism
Origins of Buddhism in India
• The Vedic religion and early Hinduism • Basic Buddhist concepts
Monotheism
• Zoroastrianism; history of Israel & Judah; the compilation of the Hebrew Bible; the rise of the Jewish diaspora; the spread of Judaism round the Mediterranean; the ‘Judaizing’ God-fearing movement among gentiles; Messianic hopes; the Maccabees; the Jesus movement
Early Christianities
• From Jesus to Christ. The changing face of Jesus from Matthew to John. Early Christianities: Pauline and Johannine; the Didache; Tertullian; Arianism; the Cappadocian Church Fathers; Nicea and the dogma of the Trinity. Christianity becomes an imperial religion.
Hellenism
• The universalization of Greek thought; the development and spread of the four schools of thought (emphasis on Stoicism and Epicureanism); Jewish Hellenism: Philo. The clash between Hellenism and Judaism: the Maccabees
The emergence and spread of Islam
• Arabia before Muhammad. The life and mission of Muhammad. The Qur’anic revelations: Meccan and Medinan. Law, poetry and apocalypse in the Qur’an. The figure of Abraham; the Jewish and Arabian prophets in the Qur’an. Muhammad’s relations with Jews, Christians and polytheists. The four caliphs. The shi’/sunni split. The umayyads. The abassids. The spread of Islam into formerly Persian and Byzantine territories. The development of the sunna and Islamic political structures.
Medieval Indian philosophy
• The Bhakhti and Vaishnavite movements. Monistic and dualistic systems among medieval Hindu philosophers and mystics (advaita, dvaita).
Classical Greek Civilization
• The emergence of Greek philosophy and civilization; the Homeric heroic age; the age of the polis; Plato and Aristotle. Logos vs myth. Euthyphro: the critique of religion. The Republic: a state based on Reason (the ideas) versus democracy. Aristotle: ethics as self-actualization
Medieval Christian civilization, East and West
• The Christian ecumene. Pope and emperor. Monasticism. The East-West schism: the emergence of “Eastern Orthodoxy” and “Roman Catholicism”. The idea of Western Caesaropapism and Eastern Papocaesarism. The Christianization of the Slavs. The place of Aquinas in Western theology; the place of Palamas in Eastern theology (hesychasm; the divine energies).
Buddhism and Confucianism in China
• How did Mahayana Buddhism interact with the native Chinese ideologies of Confucianism and Daoism? • Main features of Chan / Zen
Medieval Islamic civilization.
• Classic Islamic philosophy (kalam, falsafa). Philosophy and practice of science. The influence of Ibn Rushd (Averroes) on Western science, theology and philosophy. The development of Sufism. Al-Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi. The role of Islamic scholars (ulema) in Islamic empires; the relationship between orthodox religion and mysticism.
The Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution in 16th and 17th Century Europe
Copernicus, Galileo to Kepler and Newton
The Enlightenment
Medieval-early modern Islamic politics: Caliphate and empire
Romanticism and the Counter-Enlightenment
Political modernity in the Islamic world
Political Ideologies in 19th Century Europe: Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, and Nationalism
Modernity in Asia: China and Japan
Modernity in Russia: between Asia and Europe
Modernity in India: the anti-colonial struggle
World Communism
Late Capitalism and ‘Post-Modernity’
Globalization and the World Today
Final Revision

Assessment Elements

Seminar participation and attendance
Essays
There will be two essays in total, one in each semester, with equal weights (10% each)
Summer Exam
Winter Test
individual presentations

Interim Assessment

Interim assessment (4 module)
0.2 * Essays + 0.2 * individual presentations + 0.2 * Seminar participation and attendance + 0.2 * Summer Exam + 0.2 * Winter Test

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

Lai, K. (2008). An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=304657
Toorn, K. van der. (2009). Scribal Culture and the Making of the Hebrew Bible (Vol. 1st Harvard University Press pbk. ed). Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=282566

Recommended Additional Bibliography

История западной философии и ее связи с политическими и социальными условиями от античности до на..., Рассел, Б., 2006

Course Syllabus