The Enlightenment and its Others

This subject is not offered in 2008.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject explores some of the tensions in the project of the European Enlightenment by examining a series of literary and other texts which articulate its dark side or the areas of life which are not amenable to enlightened reason: slavery, sexuality, sentimentality, madness, revolution, and war. Rather than thinking of the Enlightenment as primarily a philosophical project, it analyses its social embedding in the form of codes of polite conduct and an ideology of the sovereign subject. The texts studied in the subject call this ideology into question in one way or another: by overt subversion, by exposure of contradictions, by exploration of the non-rational, or by an excessive attachment to enlightened norms.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• acquire skills in research, including the competent use of library, and other (including online) information sources, and the ability to define areas of inquiry and methods of research;

• acquire skills in critical thinking and analysis, including the ability to question accepted wisdom, shape and strengthen persuasive judgments and arguments, and develop critical self-awareness;

• acquire skills in theoretical thinking through a productive engagement with relevant methodologies and paradigms in literary studies and the broader humanities;

• acquire skills in creative thinking through essay writing and tutorial discussion, through the innovative conceptualising of problems and an appreciation of the role of creativity in critical analysis;

• develop social, ethical and cultural understanding;

• develop intelligent and effective communication of knowledge and ideas:

• develop skills in time management and planning related to the successful organisation of workloads, disciplined self-direction and the ability to meet deadlines.