6 ECTS credits
170 h study time

Offer 2 with catalog number 1023480BNW for working students in the 2nd semester at a (B) Bachelor - advanced level.

Semester
2nd semester
Enrollment based on exam contract
Impossible
Grading method
Grading (scale from 0 to 20)
Can retake in second session
Yes
Enrollment Requirements
NOTE: registration for this course is only possible for working students. Day students can register for courses whose code ends with an R. At Inschrijven / studentenadministratie@vub.be you must be registered at the VUB as a working student for the current academic year.
Taught in
Dutch
Faculty
Faculty of Languages & Humanities
Department
History, Archaeology, Arts, Philosophy and Ethics
Educational team
Sonja Lavaert (course titular)
Activities and contact hours
26 contact hours Lecture
130 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study
Course Content

This course focuses on critical freethought from a contemporary perspective. A historical-philosophical genealogy will be drawn, paying particular attention to subversive, revolutionary or radical freethinking that has played a role in political-ethical emancipatory changes. The themes of critique, naturalism, freedom and equality, and freedom of expression will be central. The genealogy goes back to Lucretius, and will focus on freethought in the early modern period with Machiavelli, Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza, and the lesser-known clandestine literature. We will reflect on how the movement of critical freethought has continued over time, often underground, through the Enlightenment (Kant), 19th century (Marx and Feuerbach), to the Critical theory and contemporary critical freethought.

Course material
Digital course material (Required) : Syllabus digitaal ter beschikking gesteld; Bronteksten; Kritische artikels, Powerpoints
Additional info

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.
 

 

Learning Outcomes

General competences

  • The students have knowledge and insight into the theme of critical freethought, especially in early modern philosophy.
  • The students can situate the theme 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 about freethought and modern ethical and political thinking.
  • The students can analyze a primary text on freethought (and the related themes) of modern and contemporary philosophy, reproduce its argumentation and critically comment on it.
  • The students can relate primary early modern texts to each other and to contemporary philosophical texts that deal with freethought and issues of contemporary society (democracy, freedom of speech, equality and diversity versus biopolitics, crisis and state of exception).

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
SELF Paper determines 100% of the final mark.

Within the SELF Paper category, the following assignments need to be completed:

  • Paper with a relative weight of 1 which comprises 100% of the final mark.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Assessment by paper.

Allowed unsatisfactory mark
The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context

This offer is part of the following study plans:
Bachelor of Philosophy and Moral Sciences: default (only offered in Dutch)
Bachelor of Business Economics: Minor Philosophy and Moral Sciences (only offered in Dutch)
Bridging Programme Master of Arts in Philosophy and Moral Sciences: Default track (only offered in Dutch)
Preparatory Programme Master of Arts in Philosophy and Moral Sciences: Standaard traject (only offered in Dutch)