Module Catalogue 2025/26

Pre Requisite Comment

N/A

Co Requisite Comment

N/A

Aims

This module aims to introduce students to the great period in philosophy that follows Kant’s Copernican revolution, with a particular focus upon the movement known as German Idealism, along with Kant one of the two pinnacles in later Modern thought, and indispensable reference points for almost all 20th Century continental philosophy . A number if not all of the three great thinkers of German Idealism, J. G. Fichte, F. W. J. Schelling, and G. W. F. Hegel will be considered.

Outline Of Syllabus

Students will cover certain of the key thinkers associated with the idealistic movements that flourished in the wake of the Kantian revolution, including but not limited to
F. H. Jacobi
Moses Mendelssohn
Karl Reinhold
Solomon Maimon
J. G. Fichte,
F. W. J. Schelling,
G. W. F. Hegel

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

Students will:
- Understand the stakes of the idealist development of the Kantian philosophy
- Understand the limits in the way in which Kant developed his own critical insights, as delineated by his German Idealist successors
- Learn of the new possibilities for thought that were broached by the post-Kantian idealists, including speculative dialectic, absolute idealism, and the philosophy of nature.

Intended Skill Outcomes

Students will:
-       Develop detailed and critical knowledge of key philosophical concepts
-       Learn the importance of the history of philosophy and its most elevated moments for philosophy as such and be able to apply this knowledge in assessment and discussion
-       Develop a new method of thinking and a critical awareness of the limits of our previous conceptions of what it means to think

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

This module is designed to be a voluntary continuation of PHI2001 Kant, for those more advanced students who wish to pursue the Kantian revolution beyond Kant himself. It is intended to increase the intelligibility of many modules in the third year, which may be considered broadly post-Kantian and post-Hegelian (as well as engaging in a new way with debates first broached by German Idealism more generally). It is intended also to complement PHI2002 Post-Kantian Philosophy: Materialism which explores a quite other prolongation of the Kantian revolution, through the line of Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Marx, and Freud. Lectures will be used to introduce students to post-Kantian though in this context and seminars will be used to discuss ideas from the lectures and set reading.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The student chooses an essay title from a list of questions. These questions encourage independent research using the lecture content as a foundation and makes it possible to assess knowledge acquisition, interpretive skill and theoretical understanding as well as the analytical, creative and critical potential of students. The essay tests the ability to think creatively, self-critically and independently as well as managing one’s own work to set time limits.

General Notes

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