Difference between revisions of "2007-08 AM Theories of Knowledge and Society: Hobbes, Locke, Shaftesbury and Mandeville"
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Mo 18-20<br> | Mo 18-20<br> | ||
A 14 0031<br> | A 14 0031<br> | ||
| + | Dozent: [[User:Olaf Simons|Olaf Simons]] | ||
Hobbes, Locke, Shaftesbury and Mandeville have become central figures of all modern debates of philosophy and society: Hobbes as the prime advocate of absolutism, Locke as the philosopher behind the American constitution, Shaftesbury became famous with the fashion of 18th-century sentimentalism, Mandeville is read today as the first proponent of what came to be known as liberalism. The debate these authors unfolded showed a strange readiness to base theories of how men should live together on new theories of knowledge. One could say they simply reacted on the scientific progress their age. The arguments they produced had, however, implications far beyond the new fields of research: they were immediately suspected of atheism and seen as attacks on the moral foundations human society rested on. | Hobbes, Locke, Shaftesbury and Mandeville have become central figures of all modern debates of philosophy and society: Hobbes as the prime advocate of absolutism, Locke as the philosopher behind the American constitution, Shaftesbury became famous with the fashion of 18th-century sentimentalism, Mandeville is read today as the first proponent of what came to be known as liberalism. The debate these authors unfolded showed a strange readiness to base theories of how men should live together on new theories of knowledge. One could say they simply reacted on the scientific progress their age. The arguments they produced had, however, implications far beyond the new fields of research: they were immediately suspected of atheism and seen as attacks on the moral foundations human society rested on. | ||
Revision as of 16:53, 18 October 2007
Mo 18-20
A 14 0031
Dozent: Olaf Simons
Hobbes, Locke, Shaftesbury and Mandeville have become central figures of all modern debates of philosophy and society: Hobbes as the prime advocate of absolutism, Locke as the philosopher behind the American constitution, Shaftesbury became famous with the fashion of 18th-century sentimentalism, Mandeville is read today as the first proponent of what came to be known as liberalism. The debate these authors unfolded showed a strange readiness to base theories of how men should live together on new theories of knowledge. One could say they simply reacted on the scientific progress their age. The arguments they produced had, however, implications far beyond the new fields of research: they were immediately suspected of atheism and seen as attacks on the moral foundations human society rested on.
The seminar will focus on Hobbes and Locke. We will read and discuss passages of their texts to understand how they managed to reach beyond the strictly philosophical debate. Religion and politics will be of key interest here. The seminar should at the same moment provide a good background for individual explorations of 17th- and 18th-century plays, poems and novels which have been read as influenced by the philosophical debate and the enlightenment it is supposed to have spread.
Literature
- Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan. London, 1651.
- John Locke. Two Treatises on Government. London, 1689.
- John Locke. An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. London, 1689.
- Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury. An Inquiry Concerning Virtue or Merit. London, 1699.
- Bernard Mandeville. Fable of the Bees. 3nd edition. London, 1724.
