ARTS2362 Freedom, Alienation, Modernity

	Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
	School:  School of History and Philosophy
	Course Outline: School of History and Philosophy
	Campus: Kensington Campus
	Career: Undergraduate
	Units of Credit: 6
	EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)
	Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3
	Enrolment Requirements:
	Prerequisite: 30 units of credit at Level 1
	Equivalent: PHIL2515
	CSS Contribution Charge:Band 1 (more info)
	Tuition Fee:See Tuition Fee Schedule
	Further Information: See Class Timetable
	Available for General Education: Yes (more info)

Description

Subject Area: Philosophy
This course can also be studied in the following specialisation: European Studies

This course examines what it means to be modern. It also examines both those who problematise the idea of modernity as well as the key critics of modernity. Defenders of modernity argue the rise of scientific rationality has liberated us from nature, the dogmatic authority of religion and tradition and made individual freedom possible for all. Critics of modernity argue the price of this faith in progress has been an alienation from nature, ourselves and a wholesale instrumentalising of nature and humanity. These concerns are central to the philosophical problem of modernity. In this context the course examines the following themes: the critique of instrumental reason, the question of technology, the idea of historical progress, the character of human freedom and the possibility of a postmodern age. These issues are explored in the writings of some of the most well-known figures in European philosophy.

Figures that may be examined include: St Augustine, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Heidegger, Lukács, Arendt, Adorno, and Lyotard.