European Studies 129 - European Intellectual History and Its Discontents

(Offered as HIST-205 and EUST-129) Intellectual history concerns itself with the study of social and political ideas. These ideas are known by big words, such as Conservatism, Liberalism, Socialism. As George Orwell once remarked: “The worst thing one can do with words is to surrender to them.” This course will help students to create a distance needed to analyze the big ideas and the meaning beneath them and help acquire skills for exploration of the origin and development of key social and political concepts, such as state, politics, nation, society, and culture. The readings for this class will take students on a journey through the battle of ideas in Europe of modern period when tensions and paradoxes of modernity surfaced in the form of political and social divisions. We will also interrogate the shifting boundaries of Europe as they were forged in this battle.  Two meetings per week.  

Fall semester. Professor Semyonov.

How to handle overenrollment: preference to History and EUST majors

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Close analysis of historical evidence, which may include written documents, images, music, films, or statistics from the historical period under study. Exploration of scholarly, methodological, and theoretical debates about historical topics. Extensive reading, varying forms of written work, and intensive in-class discussions.