Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2059: Political Thought of Modernity

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Content

Syllabus Plan

Given the scale of the historical period covered by the module, the texts read will be selected and may vary from year to year. Some of the authors/texts will likely include:

  • Immanuel Kant, What is Enlightenment? (1784)
  • Thomas Paine, Rights of Man (1791)
  • G.W.F. Hegel, The Philosophy of Right (1821)
  • Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1836)
  • Karl Marx, Capital (1867)
  • John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859)
  • Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morality (1887)
  • Hannah Arendt, Between Past and Future (1961)

Learning and Teaching

This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:

Scheduled Learning and Teaching ActivitiesGuided independent studyPlacement / study abroad
27.5122.5

...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:

CategoryHours of study timeDescription
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity16.511 x 1.5 hour lectures
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity1010 x 1 hour tutorials
Scheduled Learning and teaching activity1Review Session
Guided Independent Learning 122.5Independent study

Online Resources

This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).