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A History of Western Intellectual Thought

A History of Western Intellectual Thought

Highlights

  • On-Demand micro-learning course

  • 3 days

  • All levels

Description

This course traces the key milestones in Western intellectual history from the Greeks and their predecessors to the modern day. It is a journey into the origins of ideas which continue to influence modern thinking, and an examination of the intellectual achievements of Western civilisation. The course covers all the main developments in the key areas of western intellectual development. Over 30 study weeks in sections over 100 lessons are covered from Pythagaros to Proust, from Socrates to Stravinsky, from Plato to Popper no thread of Western thought is left unexamined. This a major project in examining the origins, inspiration and legacy of Western intellectual thought.

micro-learning course Content

29 sections•96 lessons
The Dawn of Reason (Pre-Socratics)4 lessons
  1. From Mythos to Logos: The Ionian Revolution
  2. The Maths of Reality: Pythagoras and the Harmony of the Spheres
  3. Flux and Permanence: Heraclitus vs. Parmenides
  4. The Pluralists and Atomists: Empedocles and Democritus
The Birth of Philosophy: Socrates and the Sophists3 lessons
  1. The Sophists: Relativism and Rhetoric
  2. Socrates: The Gadfly of Athens
  3. Virtue and Knowledge: Socratic Legacy
Plato: The World of Forms3 lessons
  1. Plato’s Theory of Forms
  2. The Ideal State: Plato’s Republic
  3. Plato’s Legacy: Influence and Critique
Aristotle: Logic, Science, and Ethics4 lessons
  1. Aristotle’s Logic and Scientific Method
  2. Nature and Change: Physics and Metaphysics
  3. The Good Life: Aristotle’s Ethics and Politics
  4. Aristotle’s Legacy: Influence on Science and Philosophy
Hellenistic Philosophies: Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Scepticism3 lessons
  1. Stoicism: Reason and Nature
  2. Epicureanism: Pleasure and the Good Life
  3. Scepticism and the Limits of Knowledge
Rome: Law, Governance, and Early Christianity3 lessons
  1. Roman Law and the Idea of Citizenship
  2. Roman Political Thought: Cicero and the Republic
  3. The Rise of Christianity and the Church Fathers
Late Antiquity and the Preservation of Knowledge4 lessons
  1. The Fall of Rome and the Christianisation of Europe
  2. Byzantium: The Eastern Roman Intellectual Tradition
  3. The Islamic Golden Age: Transmission and Transformation
  4. Jewish Intellectual Contributions: Maimonides and Beyond
The Medieval Synthesis: Faith and Reason3 lessons
  1. Scholasticism: Method and Debate
  2. Thomas Aquinas: Synthesis of Faith and Reason
  3. Medieval Science and Natural Philosophy
Renaissance Humanism and the Rebirth of Learning4 lessons
  1. Humanism: Rediscovery of the Classics
  2. Erasmus and the Critique of Authority
  3. Machiavelli: Realism and Political Thought
  4. The Printing Press and the Spread of Ideas
The Reformation and Religious Upheaval3 lessons
  1. Martin Luther and the Protestant Reformation
  2. Calvin, Zwingli, and the Spread of Reform
  3. Counter-Reformation and Catholic Renewal
The Scientific Revolution: New Ways of Knowing4 lessons
  1. Copernicus and the Heliocentric Revolution
  2. Galileo, Kepler, and the Laws of Nature
  3. Bacon, Descartes, and the Scientific Method
  4. Newton and the Mathematical Universe
The Enlightenment: Reason, Rights, and Progress3 lessons
  1. The Age of Reason: Rationalism and Empiricism
  2. The Encyclopédie and the Republic of Letters
  3. The Rights of Man: Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity
Enlightenment Politics and Society3 lessons
  1. The Social Contract: Hobbes, Locke, and the State of Nature
  2. Separating Powers: Montesquieu and the Spirit of Laws
  3. The General Will: Rousseau and the Foundations of Modern Republicanism
Kant and the Critique of Reason3 lessons
  1. Kant’s Copernican Revolution in Philosophy
  2. Ethics and Autonomy: Kant’s Moral Philosophy
  3. Kant’s Legacy: German Idealism and Beyond
Romanticism and the Reaction to Reason3 lessons
  1. The Romantic Imagination: Art, Nature, and Emotion
  2. German Idealism: Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel
  3. The Birth of Aesthetics: Beauty and the Arts
Revolutions in Society: 19th Century Political Thought4 lessons
  1. Utilitarianism: Bentham and Mill
  2. Marx and Historical Materialism
  3. Nationalism, Liberalism, and Conservatism
  4. Feminism and the Struggle for Equality
Science, Evolution, and the Modern Worldview3 lessons
  1. Darwin and the Theory of Evolution
  2. The Rise of the Social Sciences
  3. Nietzsche: Critique of Morality and the Death of God
Modernism in Art, Literature, and Music4 lessons
  1. Modernist Literature: Proust, Joyce, and Woolf
  2. Modernism in Art: Picasso, Kandinsky, and Abstraction
  3. Music in the Modern Age: Stravinsky and Schoenberg
  4. The Avant-Garde and the Challenge to Tradition
The Birth of Psychology and the Unconscious3 lessons
  1. Freud and the Discovery of the Unconscious
  2. Jung, Adler, and the Expansion of Depth Psychology
  3. Psychology and Society: Behaviourism and Beyond
Logic, Language, and the Vienna Circle3 lessons
  1. Logical Positivism and the Verification Principle
  2. Wittgenstein: Language, Meaning, and Philosophy
  3. Popper and the Philosophy of Science
Existentialism: Freedom, Angst, and Authenticity4 lessons
  1. Kierkegaard and the Leap of Faith
  2. Heidegger: Being and Time
  3. Sartre, Camus, and the Absurd
  4. Simone de Beauvoir and Existential Feminism
Postwar Thought: Ethics, Politics, and Society3 lessons
  1. Hannah Arendt and the Banality of Evil
  2. Rawls, Nozick, and Justice in the Modern State
  3. Critical Theory: The Frankfurt School
Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and Postmodernism4 lessons
  1. Structuralism: Saussure, Levi-Strauss, and Language
  2. Foucault: Power, Knowledge, and Discourse
  3. Derrida and Deconstruction
  4. Lyotard, Baudrillard, and the Postmodern Condition
Contemporary Science and Technology3 lessons
  1. The Information Age: Computers and the Internet
  2. Genetics, Neuroscience, and the New Biology
  3. Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Thought
Globalisation, Multiculturalism, and Identity3 lessons
  1. Theories of Globalisation
  2. Multiculturalism and the Politics of Recognition
  3. Postcolonial Thought and the Western Canon
Contemporary Ethics and Political Philosophy4 lessons
  1. Bioethics: Life, Death, and Technology
  2. Environmental Ethics and the Anthropocene
  3. Justice, Rights, and Global Citizenship
  4. The Future of Western Thought
Course Review and Synthesis4 lessons
  1. Tracing the Legacy: Enduring Ideas and Institutions
  2. Applying Intellectual History: Contemporary Relevance
  3. Final Assessment and Reflection
  4. Emily Dickinson - American Poet and Literary Icon
Click here rename this section1 lesson
Click here rename this section3 lessons
  1. Contemporary Women Thinkers
  2. Contemporary Black and Minority Tinkers
  3. The Scottish Enlightenment

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