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Courses

PHIL 2027: The Philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

1st semester, 2017-18

 

Class meetings:

Fridays, 12:30 pm-2:20 pm

CPD 1.24

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Moodle:

TBA

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Tutorials:

Mandatory essay draft tutorials; additional tutorials to be held as needed.

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Course Summary:

‘If nature did ill or well in breaking the mould in which she cast me, this is to be judged after having read my work.’ Confessions, Book I

 

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), author of the Social Contract, reflected deeply on inequality, political identity and the nature of the political association. A citizen of the independent city-state of Geneva, he advocated self-determination and the 'law that is written on the hearts of citizens'. In Considerations on the Government of Poland (an inspiration for the 1791 Polish constitution), Rousseau put patriotism on the political agenda. His own life, recounted in his Confessions, was a statement on behalf of freedom.

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Course format:

The class meetings will consist of short introductions by the teacher and discussion and presentations in which students take a leading role. The Moodle forum facilitates discussion.

 

Course Outcomes:

After completing this course, students should be:

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  • Conversant with the context in which these ideas emerged;

  • Have a good understanding of the context in which these ideas emerged;

  • Able to apply his theories in modern contexts, e.g. Hong Kong;

  • Able to demonstrate interpretive, analytical, and argumentative skills in oral presentation and writing.

 

Readings:

Available in the Philosophy Department and HKU bookshop:

 

  • J.-J. Rousseau, The Confessions, trans. J.M. Cohen (Penguin, 1953).

  • J.-J. Rousseau, The Basic Political Writings, 2nd ed., trans. D. A. Cress, revised by D. Wootton (Hackett, 2012).

  • J.-J. Rousseau, The Reveries of the Solitary Walker, trans. Peter France (Penguin, 2004).

 

Highly recommended introduction by Prof. Leo Damrosch of Harvard University:

 

Assessment:

 

  • 1. Participation (15%)

  • 2. Presentation of Moodle question (20%)

  • 3. Abstract (20%)

  • 4. Essay (45%)

 

N. B. The teacher reserves the right to change this outline, including the assessment, before the beginning of the course.

 

PHIL 2451: Philosophers' views of China in
Early-Modern Europe

1st semester, 2016-17

 

Class meetings:

Wednesdays, 10:30 am-12:20 pm

CPD 3.16

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Moodle:

http://moodle.hku.hk/course/view.php?id=42086

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Tutorials:

Essay revision tutorials will be conducted during the last two weeks of the course.

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Course Summary:

This course examines the varied views of China, its philosophy and government in the writings of seventeenth-

and eighteenth-century (“early-modern”) philosophers ranging from Leibniz to Rousseau, Kant and Hegel.

The debates broached at the time - e.g. is China a model for Europe? - resonate down to the present day.

 

Course format:

The class meetings will consist of short introductions by the teacher and discussion and presentations

in which students take a leading role. The Moodle forum facilitates discussion outside class meetings.

 

Course outcomes:

Intellectual interest, initiative, independence of mind and commitment to the course objectives are crucial. Students are expected to:

 

  • Develop an understanding of early-modern philosophers’ views of China and why these views were important;

  • Explore the context in which these views on China evolved and what forces or concerns impelled this development;

  • Refine skills of written expression, analysis and use of sources as evidence, including referencing;

  • Encourage intellectual inquiry, critical thought and independent, informed judgement about the subject matter;

  • Respect the views of others.

 

Readings:

Readings for the course include the following primary sources:

 

  • Diderot, Denis & Jean le Rond d’Alembert, Encyclopédie (1751-65), excerpts

  • Du Halde, Jean-Baptiste, The general history of China, 2 vols., trans. anon. London, 1736 [key source for 18th c. philosophers on China], excerpts.

  • Eze, Emmanuel Chukwudi, Race and the Enlightenment: a reader. Cambridge, MA/Oxford: Blackwell, 1997.

  • Hegel, G.W.F., ‘The Oriental world: China’, in Lectures on the philosophy of history (1837) (any ed.).

  • Kant, Immanuel, Of the different races of human beings (1775) and Determination of the concept of a human race (1785), plus short excerpt from Eze (above)

  • Leibniz, G. W., 'Discourse on the natural theology of the Chinese' (1716) and 'On the civil cult of Confucius' (1700), both in Julia Ching & Williard G. Oxtoby, Moral Enlightenment. Leibniz and Wolff on China (Nettetal: Steyler, 1992).

  • Montesquieu, Spirit of the Laws, trans. A. Cohler, et al. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989, excerpts.

  • Rousseau, Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts (1750) and Discourse on Political Economy (1755-56), excerpts

  • Voltaire, ‘China’, ‘Chinese catechism’, ‘Fanaticism, ‘Philosopher’ in Encyclopédie philosophique (1764) and The Orphan of China (1753)

 

Assessment:

  • 15%: Required essay abstract and bibliography.

  • 60%: Research essay not to exceed 5000 words, including references.

  • 25%: Class participation.

 

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'Mrs Yates as Mandane' in 'The Orphan of China', Tilly Kettle, 1765, Photo: ©Tate, London 2016

CCHU 9021: Critical Thinking in Contemporary Society

HKU Common Core Course, 2nd semester, 2016-17

 

Class meetings:

Wednesdays, 2:30-4:20 pm

Venue TBA

 

 

Previous and Recurring Courses

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Phil 1001: Knowledge of the world: an introduction to Philosophy (discontinued)

Readings: Plato, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley

 

Phil 1003: Ethics and Society (discontinued)

Readings: Plato, Aristotle, St Augustine, Machiavelli, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Marx, Mill, Serres

 

Phil 2002: Early-modern philosophy

Readings: Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Mandeville, La Mettrie, Shapin

 

Phil 2011: Aristotle

Readings: Aristotle, Xenophon

 

Phil 2027: Philosophy of Rousseau

Readings: Rousseau, Confessions, First and Second Discourses, Letters to Malesherbes, Social Contract, Considerations on the Government of Poland

 

Phil 2035: Philosophy of the Enlightenment

Readings: Bacon, Diderot and D’Alembert, La Mettrie, Rousseau, Locke, Voltaire

 

Phil 2130: Philosophies of science (co-taught)

Readings: Bacon, Dear, Gaukroger, Jardine, Shapin

 

Phil 2345: Social contract theories

Readings: Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau.

 

Phil 2369: Philosophy of nature (environmental philosophy)

Readings: Genesis, Bacon, Keith Thomas, Descartes, Locke, Leopold, Ferry

 

Phil 2451: Philosophers’ views of china in early-modern Europe

Readings: Ricci, Leibniz, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, Du Halde, Kant, Hegel 

 

Phil 6820: Graduate Seminar In Research Methods

Please see the Postgrad page at the HKU website.

 

 

 

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