6 ECTS credits
170 h study time
Offer 2 with catalog number 1020839CER for all students in the 2nd semester at a (C) Bachelor - specialised level.
In function of the general theme ‘Autonomy, reason and power – freedom, equality, multitude’, in this course are discussed aspects, themes and exemplary texts of modern philosophers. The focus is on early modern authors because it is in their texts that a new and modern thought has taken shape. In an introduction, some critical perspectives on modernity, as formulated by Agamben, Arendt, Boehm, Castoriadis, Foucault and Negri, are discussed. From these critical perspectives we go to the texts themselves in which the modern autonomy project was designed and key texts from the following authors are discussed: Machiavelli, Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Kant. Depending on the chosen themes, attention will also be paid to unknown clandestine literature [Theophrastus Redivivus] and other subversive authors ([Antistius Constans], Van den Enden, Koerbagh). The course will be concluded with an open discussion, Quodlibet, which will focus on the themes that were central to the discussion of the texts with regard to topical issues (more specifically freedom and equality versus (bio)politics, crisis, and state of exception).
Study material
Sonja Lavaert, Vrijheid, gelijkheid, veelheid. Het moderne democratie-denken van Machiavelli tot Spinoza en zijn kring, Brussel, VUBPress, 2020, ISBN 978 90 5718 793 3
Source text material, critical articles, Powerpoints, and e-learning via Canvas; notes.
The students have knowledge and insight into the philosophy of the modern age; they can situate modern philosophy in the history of philosophy, in relation to contemporary philosophy and in relation to the social challenges of the current global world. The students can develop their own point of view in the discussion on modern ethical and political thinking. They can analyze a primary text on different themes of modern philosophy, reconstruct its argumentation and critically comment on it. They can relate primary texts of modern philosophy to each other and to current philosophical texts relating to issues of contemporary society (democracy, freedom of thought and speech, equality, and diversity versus biopolitics, crisis and state of exception).
The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
LEC Paper determines 100% of the final mark.
Within the LEC Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:
The exam/final evaluation consists of a paper.
This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Adult Education: Profile Social Studies (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Adult Education: Abridged Profile Social Studies (only offered in Dutch)