Module overview
As modern science developed in the 17th and 18th centuries, philosophers asked what place there is for individual, human agency in a law-governed, mechanistic world. And, as traditional social structures were overturned in this period, philosophers asked questions about how we should behave, as individuals and as collectives. More generally, they asked: How, if at all, do we fit into the scheme of things? Through careful attention to the writings of major thinkers from this period, this module will explore issues of perennial importance, such as: What is freedom and are we free? What is the self? What is virtue? How might reflection on these issues—and philosophical inquiry more generally—contribute to tackling real world problems? The module will introduce you to the views of a wide range of early modern philosophers on these topics from René Descartes to Anne Conway, from Thomas Hobbes to Gabrielle Suchon, and from Nicholas Malebranche to Madeleine de Scudéry.