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Regular version of the site
Bachelor 2021/2022

World Intellectual History

Type: Elective course
Area of studies: Economics
When: 1 year, 1-4 module
Mode of studies: offline
Open to: students of one campus
Instructors: Alexander Koryagin, Dominic Rubin, Alexandra Tsareva
Language: English
ECTS credits: 6
Contact hours: 112

Course Syllabus

Abstract

World Intellectual History is a two semester survey 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

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

Expected Learning Outcomes

  • To analise the key ideas of Modern Russia, including the perceived relationship between its Asian and European tendencies.
  • 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 characterise the key debated around Globalisation, including pro-globalist and anti-globalist movements.
  • To characterise the key ideas of Ancient India, including the tradition of Buddhism
  • 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 Modern Asia, including the main intellectual currents of modern China and Japan.
  • To characterise the key ideas of Modern India, including the issues around the anti-colonial struggle.
  • To characterise the key ideas of the Ancient Chinese Thinkers, including Confucius, Laozi and the Legalist tradition.
  • 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 European Couter-Enlightenment, including Romanticism and Political Conservatism of Burke and Hegel.
  • 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 Hellenistic Schools, including the traditions of Cynics, Epicureans, Stoics and Skeptics
  • 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 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 Medieval-early modern Islamic politics, including the relationship between the Caliphate and the Empire.
  • 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 various traditions of early Christianities, including Ebionites, Marcionites, Gnostics and the Proto-Orthodox.
  • To characterise the key ideas of World Communism, including the debates around Leninism, Stalinism and Maoism.
  • To characterise the key Political Ideologies in 19th Century Europe, including Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, and Nationalism.
  • To compare Buddhism and Confucianism in China, including the relationship between the monastic ideal and the duty to the state.
  • To compare the key ideas of the Ancient Monotheistic traditions, including Zoroastianism and Judaism
  • To conceptualise Intellectual History as a separate discipline in its own right, to define its objectives and basic methods.
  • To evaluatr the key ideas of Late Capitalism and ‘Post-Modernity’, including the Frankfurt School and the French Postmodernism.
  • To outline the key political ideas of modernity in the Islamic world.
  • 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

Course Contents

  • Introduction
  • Ancient China
  • Origins of Buddhism in India
  • Monotheism
  • Early Christianities
  • Hellenism
  • The emergence and spread of Islam
  • Medieval Indian philosophy
  • Classical Greek Civilization
  • Medieval Christian civilization, East and West
  • Buddhism and Confucianism in China
  • Medieval Islamic civilization.
  • The Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution in 16th and 17th Century Europe
  • Medieval-early modern Islamic politics: Caliphate and empire
  • The Enlightenment
  • 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

Assessment Elements

  • non-blocking Seminar participation and attendance sem 1
  • non-blocking Presentation sem 1
  • non-blocking Summer Exam
  • non-blocking Winter Test
    Online format
  • non-blocking Presentation sem 2
  • non-blocking Seminar participation and attendance sem 2
Interim Assessment

Interim Assessment

  • 2021/2022 4th module
    0.25 * Winter Test + 0.125 * Seminar participation and attendance sem 1 + 0.125 * Presentation sem 2 + 0.125 * Presentation sem 1 + 0.25 * Summer Exam + 0.125 * Seminar participation and attendance sem 2
Bibliography

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