Learning objectives

By the end of the course, you should be able to do the following:

• Explain how Enlightenment rationalism influenced each of these philosophers
• Explain how the German Enlightenment differed from those of other nations
• Describe one major idea from each philosopher

Learning methods

Your online learning will include the following methods:

• Recorded lectures and podcasts
  
• Academic and non-academic articles
  
• Participation in written discussions with other students
  
• Participation in videoconference seminars
  

For Liberal Arts for 55+ Certificate students: you will write a reflective essay.

Schedule

Week 1

Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) was concerned about an over-emphasis on reason and experience, at the expense of ideals, by Enlightenment philosophers. Kant’s response was his “Copernican moment”: three great critiques of reason, morality and aesthetics.

Week 2

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831) sought to “close the gap” Kant left between what can be rationally understood and the idealistic that cannot be experienced. Hegel constructed a method of philosophy in which both experience and ideals fit into a rational systematic process, based in history. 

Week 3

Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) “loathed Hegel” (says Lawrence Cahoone). Kierkegaard’s overarching question was: “What does it mean to be a Christian?”. He held that religious experience is by necessity irrational and cannot therefore be molded into Hegel’s great rational system.

Week 4

Karl Marx (1820–1895) rejected Hegel’s idealist dialectic, believing there’s nothing idealist about class struggle. Our fundamental need, according to Marx, is to convert raw materials into goods necessary for survival, and a fundamental problem is who owns the means and rewards of this process.

Books, materials and resources

You will access reading material using SFU's online course management system, Canvas.

Technical requirements

Accessing your course