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The Age of Unreason? Modernity and its Discontents

Module description

Is “progress” always positive, or can it be destructive? Through an examination of the intellectual, political, cultural, scientific, and social developments of the period c. 1789-1960, particularly in Britain, but also continental Europe and the wider world, this module explores the tension between a desire for improvement and the instinct to resist change. As part of that, we will look at the relationship between modern society and irrationality. You will look across a range of thinkers, writers, and scholars and examine their contributions to developments in thinking about philosophy, science, political culture, sociology, and anthropology during the period. You will explore the long history of what some have argued are “conservative”, reactionary, irrational, or anti-modern forms of thought and discuss whether these are fundamentally incompatible with “modernity” and progress.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to give you in-depth knowledge of a crucial period in history and to engage you in critical reading and thinking. Primary source texts and secondary literature will present you with ample material to develop critical and analytical skills, as well as hone your discursive and communication skills in the seminar discussions which will be a key component of this module. Lectures will provide key background information, especially biographical and historical context, and introduce key themes and questions for discussion. You will have the opportunity to undertake independent research and to present your work in a supportive environment, as well as to interact in creative ways with your fellow students and the module’s themes and materials.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate an understanding of the broad chronology and key events, lives, and intellectual trends of the period c. 1789-1960
• 2. Explain the major intellectual discourses of the period and the manner in which they developed

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Develop and effectively deploy critical vocabulary for engaging with ideas and discourses
• 4. Utilize close reading skills to critically engage with primary source texts in the history of thought
• 5. Interpret and critique complex historical, philosophical, and intellectual arguments

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate independent critical thinking and research skills
• 7. Display presentation, IT, and communication skills
• 8. Demonstrate an ability to work cooperatively and creatively in a team

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• “Romanticisms”
• Imagination, emotion, irrationalism
• Primitivism and ideas of nature
• Industrialism
• Radicalism
• Traditions
• Religion
• Reactionary politics
• Ideas of conservatism
• Progress and modernity
• Nostalgia
• Idealism

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Basic reading:

• Bermingham, A. and Brewer, J. The consumption of culture, 1600-1800 (1995)
• Beiser, F.C. The Cambridge Companion to Hegel (1993)
• Bevir (ed), M. Historicism and the human sciences in Victorian Britain (2017)
• Bourke, R. Empire and Revolution (2015)
• Butler, M. Romantics, Rebels and reactionaries: English literature and its background (1991)
• Clark, K. The Romantic Rebellion (1986)
• Craig, D. Robert Southey and Romantic apostasy: political argument in Britain, 1780-1840
• Davis, J.R. The Victorians and Germany (2007)
• The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson (2006)
• Haskell, F. History and its images: art and the interpretation of the past (1995)
• Holmes, R. Coleridge: Early Visions (1989) (and sequel, Darker Reflections (1998))
• Holmes, R. The age of wonder: how the romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science (2008)
• Klancher, J. Transfiguring the arts and sciences: knowledge and cultural institutions in the Romantic Age (2013)
• Maggoch, D. “Romantic political thought”, in P. Hamilton (ed), Handbook of European Romanticism (2016)
• Mander, W.J. British Idealism: a history (2011)
• Marks, L. “Transcendence, idealism, and modernity”, History of European ideas, 43 (2017)
• Oakeshott, M. Experience and its Modes (2015 [First ed. 1933])
• The Essential Plato (trans. By B. Jowett), (1999 [First ed. 1871])
• Reiss, H.S. The political thought of the German Romantics (1955)W.D. Robson-Scott, The literary background of the Gothic revival in Germany (1967)
• Vico, G. New Science (2013 [First ed. 1725]

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE: 

Key words search

Romantic; politics; philosophy; Britain; Europe; history of ideas; intellectual history; political thought