Modern Western Philosophy is often described as a break both with Medieval Scholasticism, rooted in Aristotelian thought, and traditional forms of authority. It takes shape around several major historical events and responds to these: the 16th-century Protestant Reformation; the European scientific revolution of the 17th century; the 18th-century Enlightenment; and the French Revolution of 1789. In this survey course, we will consider a variety of thinkers and philosophical texts from early Modernity. The course is organized around different themes, to do with epistemology and subjectivity, anthropology and politics, freedom and progress, Enlightenment and the Emancipation of Women. We we will consider how the modern philosophical method acted as a liberating and creative force against the traditional dogmas of the Church and Scholasticism. It allowed modern thinkers (women and men alike) to re-design the world on a human scale, and to imagine new, radical possibilities for human reason; sensibility; political institutions; intersubjective interactions; and our freedom of thought and action. Despite its problematic outcomes – which will be one of the focuses of the course – Modern Western Philosophy still deserves attention as one of the most fascinating and productive moments of our cultural history.

Modern Western Philosophy is often described as a break both with Medieval Scholasticism, rooted in Aristotelian thought, and traditional forms of authority. It takes shape around several major historical events and responds to these: the 16th-century Protestant Reformation; the European scientific revolution of the 17th century; the 18th-century Enlightenment; and the French Revolution of 1789. In this survey course, we will consider a variety of thinkers and philosophical texts from early Modernity. The course is organized around different themes, to do with epistemology and subjectivity, anthropology and politics, freedom and progress, Enlightenment and the Emancipation of Women. We we will consider how the modern philosophical method acted as a liberating and creative force against the traditional dogmas of the Church and Scholasticism. It allowed modern thinkers (women and men alike) to re-design the world on a human scale, and to imagine new, radical possibilities for human reason; sensibility; political institutions; intersubjective interactions; and our freedom of thought and action. Despite its problematic outcomes – which will be one of the focuses of the course – Modern Western Philosophy still deserves attention as one of the most fascinating and productive moments of our cultural history.