Intellectual History – (M.Sc.)

The programme aims to introduce students both to the principal methodologies of intellectual history and to some key instances of this burgeoning discipline.

It will, for example, familiarise students with Begriffsgeschichte and the 'Cambridge School', as well as enabling them to explore significant episodes in intellectual history, such as Epicureanism, Mind Body Dualism, the Scottish Enlightenment and Tocqueville's America.

Learning Outcomes Students are expected to achieve several aims, which will be assessed primarily by essays and a dissertation, such as:

* knowledge of the chief methods of practising intellectual history;
* a detailed understanding of certain major episodes in intellectual history;
* an appreciation of the interdependence of text and context, and of the importance of ideas in past and present.

A wide variety of intellectual skills are promoted through seminars, discussions and advanced study, encouraging the development of the:

* ability to develop tight and coherent arguments both orally and on the page;
* capacity to read texts critically and sensitively, evaluating their arguments as well as situating them in their practical and intellectual contexts;
* appreciation of a variety of approaches to intellectual history;
* ability to cross-disciplinary boundaries, for example, between philosophy, science and history.