History of Ideas I: Modern Times

The module provides a general history of ideas survey of the 19th and 20th centuries with extensions into the early 21st century from Romanticism to Postmodernism, and illustrates the changes taking place in conceptions of nature, society, science, culture, and humanity. Political ideoIogies, systems thinking, social movements and the development and institutionalisation of science are treated along with philosophical specialisations and diversification. The diversity of intellectual trends and recurring patterns and structures are of special importance. In addition, other power aspects of knowledge are addressed in the study of positive and negative approaches to the development of science and technology. Instruction is in the form of lectures, presenting overviews of essential content, and mandatory seminars on course content in the light of course literature, in which students discuss their understanding orally and in writing.