King’s Arts & Social Science Programs

Early Modern Studies Program

Location: 3rd Floor
New Academic Building
University of King’s College
Telephone: (902) 422-1271 ext. 204
Fax: (902) 423-3357

Director
Kathryn Morris, BA (Vind), PhD (McGill)

Teaching Staff at King’s
Chris Baldwin, BA (Vind), MA (Queen’s)
Mark Burke, BAH (Vind), MA (Concordia), PhD (Ottawa)
Maria Euchner, BA (Vind), MA (Dal), PhD (Tor)
Hilary Ilkay, BAH (Vind), MA (New School)
Simon Kow, BA (Carleton), MA, PhD (Tor)
Kathryn Morris, BA (Vind), PhD (McGill)
Laura Penny, BA (Vind), MA (UWO), PhD (SUNY Buffalo)
Neil Robertson, BA (Vind), MA (Dal), PhD (Cantab)
Justina Spencer, BA, MA (McGill), PhD (Oxon)
Lisa Templin, BA, BEd (MSVU), MA (Ottawa)

Teaching Staff at Dalhousie:
Roberta Barker, BA (Vind), MA (Dal), PhD (Shakespeare Institute, Birmingham)

I. Introduction

What are the bases of our modern conceptions of the self, nature, society, freedom, and art? What ideas provoked historical turning points such as the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and the French Revolution? These questions, as well as those surrounding atheism, witchcraft, maritime piracy, cross-cultural encounters, the fine arts, vampirism, and more were set in motion in the early modern period. Thinkers and artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau, Goethe, and Wollstonecraft sparked the conversations we are still having centuries later.

The Early Modern Studies Program (EMSP) explores the origins of modernity through a study of its development in European culture from the 16th to early 19th centuries. We take an interdisciplinary look at an era that begins with the colonization of “new worlds”, and ends with revolutions which ushered in the modern world. By examining philosophical, scientific, moral, social, political, and aesthetic points of view, we gain insight into a time of spectacular upheaval, and understand the revolutionary basis for aspects of society that seem fundamental to contemporary life.

EMSP courses are designed so that important figures and developments may be considered on their own terms and in relation to other important aspects of the period. This will often involve consideration of the differences between the early modern and other historical periods of the west. Emphasis will be placed upon encounters between European and non-European peoples and cultures in the early modern period. Our “core” courses (mandatory for the Combined Honours degree) cover the key ideas, figures, and developments in early modern culture. Our electives branch out to explore a wide range of topics and questions. Many of these elective courses pursue in greater depth questions introduced in the core courses.

Aside from preparing undergraduates for more specialized training at the graduate or professional level, the EMSP is intended to provide them with a broad overview of the early modern period. Students are encouraged to relate the various aspects of early modern thought and culture to one another and to develop independent insights into the nature of this historical period. It is also hoped that EMSP students will take an active role in organizing events each year, including lectures, debates, and exhibitions.

II. Program Options

Students registered in the BA degree can pursue a degree in the Early Modern Studies Program: (a) as a Combined Honours degree; or (b) as a Minor.

Students registered in the BSc degree can pursue a degree in the Early Modern Studies Program: (a) as a Combined Honours degree with the Science subject as the primary subject and Early Modern Studies as the secondary subject; or (b) as a Minor.

Students may also take Early Modern Studies courses as electives towards any BA or BSc degree program.

A: Combined Honours

The Combined Honours in Early Modern Studies is a combined honours BA or BSc program offered jointly by the University of King’s College and Dalhousie University. Students combine Early Modern Studies with a second honours subject.

For the second honours subject, please see the degree requirements for BA and BSc Combined Honours (120 credit hours).

Early Modern Studies can also be taken in combination with Environment, Sustainability and Society and Bachelor of Journalism (Honours) at King’s.

Note: Electives may be taken in any of the above-mentioned departments and programs as well as in the following subjects:

• Contemporary Studies
• History of Science and Technology

In addition, some professors in the Dalhousie Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences are members of the Early Modern Studies teaching staff and offer courses at King’s.

B. Minor in Early Modern Studies

Students may complete a minor in Early Modern Studies. A minor in Early Modern Studies can be added to any BA or BSc degree program (e.g. Major, Double-Major, Honours) offered by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences or Faculty of Science.

III. Degree Requirements

A. Combined Honours

Students are encouraged to apply to the program and seek advice on course selection as early as possible, even before registering for the second year. All students must meet the degree requirements for the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, Faculty of Science, or Journalism program as detailed in the Degree Requirements section of this calendar. For each individual student, the entire degree program, including elective courses and honours requirements, is subject to supervision and approval by the two concerned programs.

All Early Modern Studies students are encouraged to acquire (through appropriate courses) competence in languages which are relevant to their degree, interests, and future plans.

BA and BSc Combined Honours
The joint King’s/Dalhousie Early Modern Studies combined honours degrees are based on the general requirement that the 120 credit hours needed to graduate include:

1. A minimum of 66 credit hours in the honours subjects beyond
the 1000 level.

  • BA students must complete no fewer than 30 credit hours in their secondary subject if EMSP is the primary subject. Students are encouraged to complete at least 30 credit hours in EMSP if it is the secondary subject but may elect to complete 24 credit hours in EMSP with approval from both honours advisors. In this case, students must complete 42 credit hours in their primary subject to reach the required total of 66 credit hours between the two combined honours subjects.
  • BSc students must complete no fewer than 30 credit hours in each subject.

2. Students may take a maximum of 84 credit hours in the two honours subjects. In this case:

  • BA students cannot take more than 48 credit hours in either subject;
  • BSc students are limited to 54 credit hours in either subject, with the larger number of credits being in their science subject.

3. Six (6) to twenty-four (24) elective credit hours, depending on the number selected in the honours subject.

4. The three core course doublets in Early Modern Studies:
• EMSP 2001.03 & EMSP 2002.03 (OR EMSP 2000.06)
• EMSP 3001.03 & EMSP 3002.03 (OR EMSP 3000.06)
• EMSP 4001.03 & EMSP 4002.03 (OR EMSP 4000.06)

5. At the conclusion of an honours program, a student’s record must show a grade of pass/fail which is additional to the grades taken in courses taken to complete 120 credit hours. In a combined honours program, students usually obtain this grade in their primary subject (the subject in which they have completed the most credit hours); permission may be required from the primary subject advisor if a student wishes to obtain the grade in the secondary subject. In the Early Modern Studies Program, completion of the honours seminar (EMSP 4501.03 & EMSP 4502.03) fulfils the requirement of the honours qualifying exam; or, with the approval of the Director, an honours thesis (in conjunction with EMSP 4551.03 & EMSP 4552.03) may also serve to fulfil the honours qualifying examination.

6. Students will be eligible to take “Independent Reading” courses only after they reach their third year. There will be six options for this course, but only six credit hours may be taken in a year and no more than twelve credit hours of this type may be taken during the course of study. The permission of a member of the teaching staff and the Director of the program is necessary in order to take one of these courses, and their availability is strictly limited.

7. For other requirements, see degree requirements for BA or BSc Combined Honours (120 credit hours) with exceptions noted in 1-4 above.

BJH with Early Modern Studies
Students registered in the combined honours in Journalism and Early Modern Studies are required to complete a total of 123 credit hours and should therefore plan their degree during their first year. In many cases, students will not be able to satisfy all degree requirements in eight semesters and may need to take courses in the summer, or devote an additional academic year to their studies.

Students are required to complete 84 credit hours between the two subjects, 54 of which much be in Journalism and 30 of which must be in Early Modern Studies and include the program’s “core” courses as described above.

B. Minor

Students seeking a minor in Early Modern Studies must complete between 18 and 27 credit hours at the 2000 level or above. This must include:

1. Any one of the three core course doublets:

• EMSP 2001.03 & EMSP 2002.03 (OR EMSP 2000.06)
Both EMSP 2001.03 & EMSP 2002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to meet this requirement.
• EMSP 3001.03 & EMSP 3002.03 (OR EMSP 3000.06)
Both EMSP 3001.03 & EMSP 3002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to meet this requirement.
• EMSP 4001.03 & EMSP 4002.03 (OR EMSP 4000.06)
Both EMSP 4001.03 & EMSP 4002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to meet this requirement.

2. 6 credit hours at the 3000 or 4000 level. *EMSP 3001.03 & EMSP 3002.03 (or EMSP 3000.06) or EMSP 4001.03 & EMSP 4002.03 (or EMSP 4000.06) will also fulfil this requirement.

3. 6 credit hours at any level.

DALHOUSIE SELECTIVES

Students enrolled in the Combined Honours or Minor program in EMSP can opt to have a maximum of one 3-credit hour course at Dalhousie University count towards the EMSP side of their degree.  The Registrar’s Office at King’s should be notified if students wish to pursue this option.

Eligible selectives for 2021-22 only:

IV. Courses Offered

Many of the courses listed below are not offered every year. Please consult the current timetable at www.dal.ca/online to determine whether a particular course is offered in the current year.

EMSP 2001.03 Structures of the Modern Self I
Central to what distinguishes modernity from the ages preceding it was the development of a new conception of the self. This course traces the history of the modern self in its European cultural expressions. We will begin in the Renaissance, considering genres  such as the novel and essay, and how these express new conceptions of the self. We will also examine crucial early modern developments such as the colonization of the New World, the rise of Protestantism, and the Counter-Reformation, through the lenses of philosophy, literature, and other aesthetic expressions.

Instructor: Laura Penny
Format: Lecture/Tutorial
Exclusion: EMSP 2000.06

NOTE: EMSP 2001.03 & EMSP 2002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to fulfil the requirements of the EMSP Combined Honours degree.

EMSP 2002.03 Structures of the Modern Self II
This course continues exploring the development of the modern self in its European cultural expressions, primarily focusing on philosophical and literary texts from the Enlightenment to early developments in Romanticism. We will grapple with early modern ethical theories and the problem of evil. We will also examine the Romantic reaction to the Enlightenment’s emphasis on reason, and the championing of emotion as a more authentic expression of the self. We will continue to examine the novel as a genre and consider portraiture as an expression of the modern self.

Instructor: Laura Penny
Format: Lecture/Tutorial
Prerequisites: EMSP 2001.03 or permission of the instructor
Exclusion: EMSP 2000.06

NOTE: EMSP 2001.03 & EMSP 2002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to fulfil the requirements of the EMSP Combined Honours degree.

EMSP 2011.03/EMSP 3011.03/EMSP 4011.03: The Lecture Series
In some years a lecture series course is offered. Students are allowed to take up to three such courses, one for each year of upper-level study. Each course will consist of six bi-weekly evening lectures given by specialists from Atlantic Canada and beyond and a weekly two-hour seminar. The lectures will offer students reflections on a number of early modern issues and themes. Each year a different theme will be explored.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar/evening lectures

EMSP 2215.03: Violence and Wonder: Baroque Art
This course examines the key monuments of Baroque art and architecture and the social and political context in which they were produced. The course begins in the 1560s, a decade that saw the death of Michelangelo, the end of the Council of Trent, and the publication of the second edition of Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists. Examining Mannerism and its critics in the Catholic Reformation sets the ground for the 17th century reform of art spurred on by Caravaggio and the Carracci. Their legacy–and the themes of violence and wonder–will be traced through the work of the Caravaggisti and the illusionistic Baroque ceiling painters. The importance of Rome as a locus of Baroque art will be a central focus, but the course also considers the distinctive political, religious, and cultural life of Flanders, the Dutch Republic, Spain, and France.

Instructor: Justina Spencer
Format: Lecture/Seminar

EMSP 2220.03: The Voice of Satire: Rabelais, Cervantes, Voltaire
This course will cover several examples of early modern satire, ranging from Cervantes’ Don Quixote, to Rabelais’ Gargantua and Pantagruel, to scathing works of 18th century British satire, as exemplified by Pope and Swift. We will consider novels, poems, theatre, journalism, and visual media such as caricatures.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar

EMSP 2230.03: Picture and Poetry in Early Modern Culture
Early modern artists and thinkers were fond of the Latin phrase ut pictura poesis, which means, “as in painting, so in poetry.” Ben Jonson, for example, argued that “poetry and picture are arts of a like nature, and both are busy about imitation.” The objective here will be to test the validity of such claims with reference to early modern visual art and literature. Are poets and painters engaged in the same field of representation? Do they adopt parallel strategies of representation? Do they interpret and organize social energies in similar ways?

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar

EMSP 2240.03: Themes in Early Modern Science, Metaphysics, and Epistemology
This course covers the period from Descartes through Kant and is structured around a study of themes in science, epistemology, and metaphysics as they evolved in this period. Although the themes to be covered may vary somewhat on the philosophical side, the  main ones will be a selection from the following: theories of representation, theories of perception, theories of concepts and abstract ideas, theories of knowledge and the issue of scepticism (proofs of God and of the external world), metaphysics and ontology, causality, and doctrines of logic and method. What makes the early modern period so intellectually fascinating is that philosophy and science, empirical studies and a priori studies, are interwoven. We shall look at some parts of the tapestries that resulted, especially in the area of cognitive science in Descartes, but also including physics and mathematics, and the contributions of other philosophers of the period.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar

EMSP 2250.03: The Myth of Modernity in Goethe’s Faust
The Faust myth can be described as the myth of modernity itself: the ideas of human self-realization and progress are under debate in the story of the German scholar Dr. Faustus, who in his pact with the devil transgresses the boundaries that nature, religion, and society have imposed on mankind. Unquestionably, the most famous representation of this modern myth is Goethe’s Faust. Written over a period of sixty years (1772 – 1832), Goethe’s opus magnum broadens the focus of the original myth to portray the central ambiguities and controversies presented by the modern age. His Faust is the story of modern man at large: successful, egotistical, torn, alienated, driven, in search of truth and totality, a man who in the course of his life becomes spectacularly guilty, and in the end is spectacularly (and controversially) redeemed. Faust’s journey through the world traces major developments of the western world from the sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, developments that still shape today’s world.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar

EMSP 2260.03: The Philosophes, the Encyclopédie, and Enlightenment Movement
This course explores the range, depth and commitment of the work of several leading figures of the eighteenth-century intellectual movement that came to be known as Les Lumières in France, the Enlightenment in Britain, Aufklärung in Germany, and Illuminismo in Italy. The course takes a primary interest in the French philosophes, writers, and thinkers who contributed directly to the Encyclopédie, but some consideration will also be given to the movement in these other European countries. Course readings will include a nucleus of articles from the Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire Raisonné des Sciences, des Arts et des Métiers, whose publication was overseen by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d’Alembert from 1751-1772, augmented by a host of other works of major philosophical, scientific, aesthetic, cultural, and historical importance.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar

EMSP 2270.03: Endless Romance
The great medieval genre of romance both endured and metamorphosed in the early modern period. This course will consider the important transformation of romance in the period by concentrating on two main texts, Spenser’s The Faerie Queene and Cervantes’ Don Quixote. The course will begin by looking at a few paradigmatic late medieval romances of the fifteenth century, including portions of Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur, and the Spanish romance by Martorel, Tirant lo blanc. The main texts will then be considered as examples of the extraordinary reception of the genre, as continuation, elaboration and allegorization in the case of Spenser, and as the foundation of the novel in the case of Cervantes. Central themes such as quest, errancy, and desire will be considered; there will be a limited number of readings on the theory of romance (Frye, Bakhtin, Parker). In conclusion, we will briefly consider much later manifestations of romance in the work of the Romantic poets.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar

EMSP 2280.03: Friedrich Schiller’s Historical Dramas
Friedrich Schiller’s five historical dramas range over early modern Europe from the Hundred Years War to the Thirty Years War, and find settings in medieval Switzerland and France, as well as Counter-Reformation Spain and Elizabethan England. Five plays will be analyzed according to lyrical, theatrical, historical and aesthetic criteria.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: GERM 2280.03

EMSP 2290.03: German Romanticism: From Goethe to Hegel
Romanticism begins by overthrowing conventional literary rules and attitudes. It demands scepticism towards received religious doctrine and practice. Genuine feeling and political liberation are enhanced by attention to classical antiquity and modern folktale. Apparently a reaction against the modern, from Goethe to Hegel, Romanticism manages to eclipse almost everything else.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: GERM 2290.03

EMSP 2310.03: Women and Gender in Early Modern Science
This course will explore the roles of women, and questions about women’s nature, in the development of early modern science. The course will consider several interrelated aspects of scientific culture in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. First, we will look at the place of women in the scientific institutions of the time. The second part of the course will look at the contributions of some particular women to the fields of physics, astronomy, botany, and medicine. We will then examine how science interpreted sex and gender. Finally, the course will explore the ways in which gender and nature were portrayed in the broader cultural context. We will, for example, discuss the ways in which women were depicted as scientists and as symbols of science in art and literature.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Crosslisting: GWST 2310.03, HSTC 2310.03

EMSP: 2313.03: The Vampire: Modernity and the Undead
Since the emergence of vampire stories in the late sixteenth century, the vampire has served as a complex symbol for the forces that defy or challenge modernity. This course will examine the figure of the vampire as it appears in folklore, philosophy, fiction, poetry, film, and television. Throughout the course we will consider the works in their historical and cultural contexts, considering what changing ideas of the vampire can tell us about early modern and contemporary views of death, mortality, national identity, sexuality, and gender.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Discussion
Crosslisting: CTMP2313.03

EMSP 2320.03: Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe
The period of European history from 1500 to 1800 saw the rise of modern science and philosophy. It was also a period in which thousands of witch trials and executions were carried out. This course will seek to understand how these seemingly contradictory developments could have occurred simultaneously. The course will examine changing conceptions of the witch and witchcraft in their historical, intellectual, cultural, religious, and political contexts. We will pay special attention to early modern notions of gender and sexuality and their influence on the witch hunts and witch trials.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Discussion
Crosslisting: GWST 2320.03; RELS 2420.03

EMSP 2330.03: Nature Imagined: Literature and Science in Early Modern Europe
The Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries brought about massive changes in the scientific world view. These changes also had a great influence on the literature of the period. Some writers were entranced by the new natural science, and sought to disseminate its principles and lionize its most significant figures. Other writers were harshly critical of the emerging notions of scientific progress and domination of nature. This course will examine the ways in which science was portrayed in early modern poetry, prose, and drama, in an attempt to understand how the new science, and the new conceptions of nature, were understood and received in the broader philosophical and cultural context.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Exclusion: EMSP 2340.03/HSTC 2340.03

EMSP 2340.03: The Origins of Science Fiction in Early Modern Europe
In 1500, literate Europeans lived in a bounded, geocentric universe. By 1800, the sun had replaced the earth at the centre of a limited planetary system situated in infinite space. These changes prompted early modern philosophers, scientists, and writers to consider the possibility that the universe might contain a plurality of worlds. This course will explore the ways in which the “plurality” theme was developed in some of the earliest works of science fiction. We will consider this theme as it appears in stories of intergalactic voyages, utopian societies and encounters with extraterrestrial beings, paying special attention to the ways in which early modern writers used these tales to speculate on philosophical, political, and scientific issues.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Exclusion: EMSP 2330.03
Crosslisting: HSTC 2340.03

EMSP 2350.03: The Body in Early Modern Europe
This course will explore how the emergence of the modern self intersected with changing conceptions of the body. We will explore such topics as the rise of Renaissance anatomy; early modern perceptions of gender, race, and sexual difference; new explanations of madness and melancholy; monstrous and demonic bodies; representations of the diseased body; and the emergence of the modern ideal of the disciplined body.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Cross-listing: HSTC 2350.03

EMSP 2360.03: Magic, Science, and the Occult: from Antiquity to Postmodernity
A perennial source of fear and fascination, magic and related forms of ‘occultism’ (e.g. alchemy and astrology) have been dismissed as pseudo-science and even stigmatized as ‘Satanism’. This course aims to recover the original meaning of occultism from the perspective of the practitioners of magic. It explores the origins and development of the ‘occult sciences’, highlighting their often-overlooked contributions to the history of science, and their continuing evolution in the modern world.

Instructor: Kyle Fraser
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Cross-listing: HSTC 2120.03

EMSP 2390.03: Asia and the West: Centuries of Dialogue
This course will explore some of the most important engagements of modern western thinkers with various texts and traditions of East and/or South Asian thought, examine the very aspects of Asian thought that intrigued modern western thinkers, and assess western values and projects in their lights.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Cross-listing: CTMP 2102.03, HSTC 2811.03, CHIN 2082.03
Exclusion: EMSP 2450.03, CHIN 2080.03

EMSP 2410.03: Imagining the Other: The Portrayal of the Non-European World in Early Modern Culture
European encounters with non-European cultures in the early modern period shaped national economies, political power, and European self-understanding. Confrontation with non-European societies reinforced hegemonic, reflective, and self-critical aspects of European culture. The course analyses how writers and artists implicitly engaged in clarifying and criticizing European identity as they came to terms with non-Europeans. The texts and images derive from Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, English, French, and Dutch sources from the late middle ages to the end of the eighteenth century. The contexts include Southeast Asia, India, Africa, North and South America, Polynesia, and purely imaginary settings.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar

EMSP 2415.03: The Art of Global Encounters in the Early Modern Period
An introduction to global art history of the early modern period, with a particular focus on how cross-cultural encounters instigated the development of new and hybrid art forms. Topics include, among others: Indigenous art practices in the Americas; artistic exchange between Italy and the Ottoman Empire; the Atlantic slave trade; and the museum’s role in reconciliation and restitution.

Instructor: Justina Spencer
Format: Lecture/Discussion

EMSP 2420.03: Virtue, Vice, and the Commercial Society in Early Modern Literature
An important development in early modern Europe is the emergence of the commercial society in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The course will consider literary works by authors who grappled with the moral implications of the growth of commercial society in Europe, particularly in England at the beginning of the eighteenth century.

These authors sought to understand and to some extent criticize the notion of a society chiefly devoted to the acquisition of economic wealth. Furthermore, they employed literary genres such as travel literature and satire to explore the changing conceptions of virtue and vice in Europe, thus presenting often ambiguous treatments of commercial society. As well, reference will be made throughout to other philosophical and artistic works of the period.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Format: Lecture/Seminar

EMSP 2430.03: The Pursuit of Happiness in Early Modern Culture
A central preoccupation in early modern European culture, particularly in the eighteenth century, was that of the attainment of happiness in one’s private life and in society in general. Happiness was seen as the highest good by some thinkers – as arguably reflected, on a political level, in the American constitution – while others argued against the identification of happiness with goodness. This course will examine various literary and philosophical texts in which the pursuit of happiness in its diverse senses is an important theme. Depictions of the happy life as well as philosophical and literary critiques of the primacy given to happiness will be discussed.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Format: Lecture/Seminar

EMSP 2440.03: Providence, Progress, Degeneration: Early Modern Ideas of Historical Transformation
Against the background of works of both Renaissance historians and seventeenth century state-of-nature theorists, eighteenth-century authors developed new theories of multi-staged historical existence. Readings may include selections from authors such as Vico, Rousseau, Voltaire, Smith, Gibbon, Lessing, Kant, and Herder.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Lecture/Seminar

EMSP 2450.03: The East is Read: Early Modern Conceptions of Asian Thought
This class considers early modern European interpretations of key Asian texts. It assesses both the merits of early modern interpretations of Asian thought and what these interpretations reveal about the self-consciousness of European thinkers in the early modern period.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: CHIN 2080
Exclusion: EMSP 2390.03, CTMP 2102.03, HSTC 2811.03, CHIN 2082.03

EMSP 2460.03: Images of Modernity in Cinema: Early Modern Stories on Film
This course is intended to introduce students to the history and culture of European and Asian societies from the sixteenth to early nineteenth centuries through the study of film. The motion pictures to be screened dramatize such events, themes, and/or stories as the Protestant Reformation, Shakespearean drama, the decline of chivalry in France and Japan, French absolutism, the wild child phenomenon, and cross-cultural encounters in the Americas and South Pacific. Each week will include both a film screening and relevant lecture and discussion. The films may include such titles as A Man for All Seasons (1966), Henry V (1989), Amadeus (1984), The New World (2005), Seven Samurai (1954), Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972), Black Robe (1991), The Wild Child (1970), The Bounty (1984), and Ridicule (1996). Selected primary and secondary documents will be assigned to supplement the films. No prior knowledge of early modern history and culture is assumed.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Seminar: Lecture/Discussion/Film Screening

EMSP 2470.03: Visions of Renaissance Political Thought in Film
Renaissance political thought has been successfully adapted to films set in various imagined contexts. This course will examine the creative intersections between the political ideas in Renaissance texts and film adaptations in such settings as Renaissance England, feudal Japan, and modern-day Britain and the United States. The films may include such titles as The Godfather I and II, Edward II, Richard III, Ran, Throne of Blood, and Revengers Tragedy.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Format: Film Screening and Lecture/Discussion

EMSP 2480.03: The Pirate and Piracy
This course will examine early modern historical, philosophical, and literary accounts of pirates and piracy. It will also trace ancient and medieval precursors to these early modern treatments as well as consider later representations – literary and cinematic – of early modern piracy and implications for contemporary piracy.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Format: Lecture/Discussion
Crosslisting: HIST 2750.03

EMSP 2490.03:  Ideas of the Sea and Seafaring:  Intercultural Perspectives 
A survey of intercultural ideas of the sea and seafaring from ancient to modern times. Topics include oceanic myths and origin stories, the myth of Atlantis, marine natural history, sea monsters, mermaids, the law and freedom of the sea, Black Atlantic identity, scientific sea voyages, oceanic science fiction, modern sea power, and marine conservation. 

Instructor:  Simon Kow 
Format:  Lecture/Discussion 
Cross-listing:  CTMP2207.03, HSTC 2220.03 

EMSP 2510.06: Early Modern Art, Literature, and Politics in Florence, Italy
This course provides an intensive introduction to the art, literature, philosophy, and politics of Renaissance and early modern Italy (1260-1580), with a special focus on Florence. Taught entirely on-site, this course offers students the unique opportunity to consider the civic, ecclesiastical, and domestic spheres of Renaissance Florentine life through daily visits to the city’s town halls, churches, palaces, and museums.

Instructor: Justina Spencer
Format: Seminar/ On-site visits

ESMP 3001.03: Humanity, Nature, and Environment in the Early Modern Period I: Renaissance and the Age of Reason
This interdisciplinary class provides an overview of major changes and continuities in the representation of the natural world, and the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, in the early modern period. The first part of the class focuses on the period that begins in the Renaissance and ends in the late 17th century.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Exclusion: EMSP 3000.06

NOTE: EMSP 3001.03 & EMSP 3002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to fulfil the requirements of the EMSP Combined Honours degree.

ESMP 3002.03: Humanity, Nature, and Environment in the Early Modern Period II: Enlightenment to Romanticism
This interdisciplinary class provides an overview of major changes and continuities in the representation of the natural world, and the relationship between human beings and the natural environment, in the early modern period. The second part of the class begins with the 18th century Enlightenment and ends with the rise of Romantic views of nature in the early 19th century.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Prerequisites: EMSP 3001.03 or permission of the instructor.
Exclusion: EMSP 3000.06

NOTE: EMSP 3001.03 & EMSP 3002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to fulfil the requirements of the EMSP Combined Honours degree.

EMSP 3203.03: Critiques of Modernity
What is the status of the modern world? Is it a source of freedom and truth or rather of the deconstruction of religion, humanity, and nature? The contemporary period has defined itself in many ways through the critique of modernity. These critiques have come from an array of perspectives: philosophic, aesthetic, religious, moral, political. This course will provide a survey of a number of such critiques seeking to grasp both points of commonality, disagreement and development.

Instructor: Neil Robertson
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: CTMP 3103.03

EMSP 3210.03: The Ideal World of Enlightenment: Desire and Freedom
In the course of criticizing the tradition and integrating the experience of the Renaissance and the Reformation, in responding to the beginnings of modern natural science and modern political institutions, early modern Europeans sought in diverse – and often conflicting – ways to express the self-understanding of Enlightenment. By the end of the eighteenth century, science, morality, and art were seen as different realms of activity in which questions of truth, justice and taste could be separately determined, that is, evaluated according to their specific criteria of validity. This course will consider how these differences compelled European philosophers and theologians, artists and social theorists, to develop and expand their self-understanding to the point where enlightened reason could properly reflect the formal divisions of culture and make critical judgements in relation to them. Special attention will be paid to the relationship between faith and knowledge and the growing sense of conflict between religion and secular freedom.

Instructor: Kenneth Kierans
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: CTMP 3110.03

EMSP 3213.03: Kant and Radical Evil
This course will examine the roots of the modern conception of radical evil in the late work of Immanuel Kant. Beginning with the traditional pre-Kantian conception of evil as a merely negative phenomenon – as a lack or privation of being – we will trace the emergence of Kant’s radical innovation, his positive conception of evil as the ineradicable “knot” at the very heart of human freedom. We will also consider at some length the subsequent career of Kant’s doctrine in 19th and 20th century thought.

Instructor: Daniel Brandes
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: CTMP3113.03

EMSP 3216.03: Spinozisms: From Early Modernity to the Contemporary World
This course will focus on Spinoza’s thought, and the ways thinkers have adopted and transformed his ideas from the early modern period to the present day. We will consider Spinoza’s contribution to ethics, political thought, optics, theology, and affect theory, as well as art and literature.

Instructor: Laura Penny
Format: Lecture and Discussion
Crosslisting: CTMP 3316.03

EMSP 3220.03: The Real World of the Enlightenment: Time and History
In enlightened European culture, religion, state, and society as well as science, morality, and art were gradually separated from one another under exclusively formal points of view, and subordinated to a critical reason that took on the role of a supreme judge. By the beginning of the 19th century, many Europeans began to question the self-understanding evoked by the principle of critical reason. This course will consider how enlightened freedom and reason moved European philosophers and theologians, artists and social theorists to conceive of themselves historically, that is, to become conscious of the dissolution of tradition and of the need to ground the divisions of culture in ideal forms of unity derived from the tradition. The course will pay particular attention to the relationship between religion and the demand that the unifying force in culture come from a dialectic residing in the principle of enlightened reason itself.

Instructor: Kenneth Kierans
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: CTMP 3115.03

EMSP 3230.03: Impersonations: Theatre, Performance, and Identity in Early Modern Europe
In his celebrated Oration on the Dignity of Man, Pico della Mirandola glorified man’s ability to “transform himself into what he most wills, taking like a chameleon the colour of all those things to which it is most nigh.” For Pico as for many early modern thinkers, human subjects were distinguished less by preordained identities than by an actor-like ability to fashion and perform new selves. In early modern England, the burgeoning commercial theatre became a focal point for cultural debates about the social and ethical ramifications of this performative construction of the self. This course will explore these debates both as they relate to the growth of the professional theatre and in terms of their wider implications for early modern English society. We will begin by looking at the roles traditionally played by performance in the affirmation of identities both aristocratic and plebeian. We will then go on to examine a number of plays from the main genres performed in English public theatres between 1590 and 1640. By reading these plays alongside primary sources from conduct manuals to statutes for theatre governance, and from playwrights’ celebrations of their art to Puritans’ attacks on the theatre’s degeneracy, we will consider the huge range of cultural responses to the relationship between performance and identity in a rapidly shifting social order. Special attention will be paid to the interrogations of course, gender, sexuality, and morality implied in these works, and to their far-reaching effect on English society before and after the closure of the public theatres in 1642.

Instructor: Roberta Barker
Format: Seminar

EMSP 3240.03: Opera and the Idea of Enlightenment
This course explores opera’s emergence and development as a dominant Western art form during and after the early modern period. Through close analysis of key works, we will strive to understand how opera’s fusion of music, drama, poetry and visual spectacle reflected – and helped to shape – changing ideals of enlightenment.

Instructor: Roberta Barker
Format: Screenings/Lecture/ Discussion
Exclusion: EMSP 3640.03 for the 2005/06 academic year only

EMSP 3250.03: Atheism in Early Modern Europe
Although atheism continues to be a source of controversy and debate, one of the most significant features of the modern world is the extent to which religious unbelief has become accepted as a morally and intellectually defensible position. This course will seek to understand the rise of modern atheism by examining its origins in the early modern world.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: RELS 3250.03

EMSP 3260.03: Montaigne’s Essays and the Modern Self
In this course, we will read selections from Montaigne’s Essays at length. We will consider his relationship to the ancients, Renaissance humanism, skepticism, and how his thinking evolves throughout the Essays. We will also look at some of the history of Montaigne’s reception by readers ranging from Shakespeare, to Rousseau, to contemporary scholars.

Instructor: Laura Penny
Format: Seminar
Exclusion: EMSP2210.03

EMSP 3270.03 Leonardo da Vinci: Between Art and Science
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) moved easily between the artistic, literary, and scientific circles of Renaissance Italy. Scholars, however, often treat his art and science as competing interests. In this course, students consider the relationship between art and science, imagination and knowledge, by exploring all aspects of Leonardo’s career.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Lecture/Discussion
Crosslisting: HSTC 3270.03
Exclusion: EMSP 3620.03 and HSTC 3611.03 for the 2017/18 academic year only.

EMSP 3280.03: Love, Lust, and Desire in Italian Renaissance Art
Some of the most refined works of Italian Renaissance art portray the desires of the flesh. From erotic mythological paintings, to titillating private portraits, illicit subject matter provided an endless font of inspiration for painters, sculptors, and craftsmen alike. Through an intersectional approach, this course examines how gender, race, and class shaped the visual imaginary of desire in Renaissance Italy (1300-1650). Weekly topics will include: the visual culture of courtly love, marriage and virginity, ideals of beauty and the male gaze, sexual violence, women artists and self-representation, and the fetishization of foreign bodies.

Instructor: Justina Spencer
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: GWST 3280.03
Exclusion: EMSP 3640.03 for the 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15 academic years

EMSP 3290.03: The Renaissance Print and Cross-Cultural Exchange
Printmaking transformed how early modern artists put ideas to paper, told archetypal stories, and documented the natural world and contemporary events. It also altered how art was received and collected. Examining the material culture of prints thus engages a range of questions: from aesthetics to economics to cross-cultural knowledge transmission.

Instructor: Justina Spencer
Format: Lecture/ Seminar
Exclusion: EMSP 3620.03 for the 2014/15 academic year only

EMSP 3310.03: Hidden Worlds: Microscopy in Early Modern Europe
Microscopes were introduced into Europe at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the words of Robert Hooke, the microscope opened up “a new visible World” to the understanding – a strange new landscape populated by vast numbers of new creatures. This course will explore the influence of the microscope, and the microworld that it opened up, on the development of early modern science.

Instructor: Kathryn Morris
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Crosslisting: HSTC 3310.03

EMSP 3321.03: In Search of the Philosopher’s Stone: The History of European Alchemy
This course traces the development of alchemical theories and practices in the medieval Latin west up to the emergence of early modern chemistry. It employs a multi-disciplinary approach which treats the scientific, technological, esoteric, and iconographic dimensions of alchemy as interdependent. The entire development of European alchemy is covered from the transmission of the Greek and Islamic alchemical traditions in the 12th century up to Newton, whose alchemical theories represent a point of transition to early modern chemistry in one direction and to a more spiritualised occult philosophy in the other.

This course is independent of HSTC 3120.03. All students interested in the intersections of science, magic, and mysticism are welcome.

Instructor: Kyle Fraser
Format: Lecture/Seminar
Crosslistings: HSTC 3121.03, HIST 3990.03

EMSP 3330.03: Science and Religion: Historical Perspectives
This course tells the story of interactions between religious belief and the study of nature from deepest Antiquity to 1800. Beginning with an overview of the history and methodology of the study of science and religion, encounters between science and religion are traced from the dawn of civilization to the end of the eighteenth century, with a special focus on the early modern period. From an examination of the biblical view of nature and Creation, ancient Babylonian astrology and divination and Plato’s Timaeus, this course moves through a treatment of the centrality of theology to medieval science on to natural theology and the “Watchmaker” Design Argument of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Models of conflict, harmony, and complementarity offered to characterize relations between science and religion are explored through case studies such as the understanding of the soul, Galileo’s controversy with the Church, and instances where religious belief inspired natural philosophers like Boyle and Newton. Claims that certain confessional traditions (notably Protestantism and its dissenting offshoots) facilitated the rise of modern science are also appraised. Science-religion relations are examined both from the standpoint of mainstream religion and with respect to religious heterodoxy, prophecy, alchemy, magic, and witchcraft. This course employs examples from Judaism, Christianity and Islam and involves the reading and discussion of primary texts.

Instructor: Stephen Snobelen
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: HSTC 3200.03, HIST 3075.03, RELS 3200.03

For information on the Sir John William Dawson Essay Prize in Science and Religion, please see “VIII. Prizes”.

EMSP 3340.03: Knowledge is Power: Francis Bacon and the Birth of Modernity
Modern western culture draws close connections between three facets of human experience: a) our knowledge of nature; b) our visions of what it is to be human; and c) power, or the political, social, and technological means by which we relate the first two: nature and human nature. The Renaissance period (roughly 1400 – 1630) was highly influential in laying the foundations for such modern connections, even as it seems to us to be a period rather different from our own. We will examine those connections in an exploration primarily of the works of Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626).

Instructor: Ian Stewart
Format: Seminar/Lecture
Crosslisting: HSTC 3205.03

EMSP 3350.03: Art, Optics, and Technologies of Illusion
On the basis of a wide range of technologies of vision such as camera obscura, stereoscopes, and virtual reality, this course focuses on the ways in which artistic methods and applied science have contributed to our changing understanding of perception. Ultimately, this course asks: what does it mean to “fool the eye”?

Instructor: Justina Spencer
Format: Lecture and Discussion
Crosslisting: HSTC 3350.03

EMSP 3420.03: Religious Warfare and Political Theology in the Early Modern Period
The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Europe witnessed tremendous upheavals in society, in part caused by religiously based strife. Many thinkers responded to these events by formulating “political theologies,” i.e., interpretations of religious teachings especially as contained in scripture with a view to assessing the political consequences of religion and to harmonizing religious interpretations with a particular conception of political life. We shall examine various continental European and British texts of the early modern period which are both timely and thoughtful reflections on Christian teachings as they relate to – and sometimes contrast with – the philosophical underpinnings of the modern state and religious freedom.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: RELS 3010.03

EMSP 3430.03: Theories of Punishment
In this course we will examine the development and application of a number of theories of punishment, especially liberal and utilitarian theories developed in the 18th century. Our theoretical examination will lead us to consider the social, economic, and ethical impactions of different attitudes toward and understandings of punishment. We will also investigate the concrete expression of these theories of punishment in the form of large-scale institutions. These institutions include (among others) the transatlantic slave trade, penal colonies, prisons, penology, residential schools, asylum, and the police. The course will be guided by a few broad, but fundamental questions including: who (or what) should be punished, how should they be punished, and (most fundamentally) why?

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar
Cross-listing: CTMP 3170.03

EMSP 3440.03: Reconstructing Political Modernity
This course will examine several interpretations of early modern thinkers by twentieth-century authors who are original political thinkers in their own right. These interpretations have involved as much reconstruction of early modern thought as faithful scholarly commentary. Indeed, they sometimes shed more light on the interpreter than on the thinkers being interpreted. Thus, we shall critically analyze the radical transformations of early modern texts that were undertaken in order to make these works relevant to social and political questions centuries later.

Instructor: Simon Kow
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: CTMP 3135.03

EMSP 3450.03 Common Tragedy: Castastrophe, Loss, and Ambition in Early Modern Europe
Modern consciousness can be defined by new visions of death, loss and ambition. As modernity emerges and “matures”, so do writings on catastrophe. Writings from the catastrophic fourteenth century, the seventeenth-century plague, and the 1755 Lisbon earthquake provide insight into shifts and continuities between late medieval and modern senses of the self.

Instructor: Susan Dodd
Format: Lecture
Exclusion: EMSP 3630.03 for the 2006/07 academic year only

EMSP 3510.03/3511.03/3515.06/4510.03/ 4511.03/ 4515.06: Independent Readings in Early Modern Studies
In a reading course, the student is assigned to a member of staff for regular meetings to discuss readings in a selected area. Papers and research projects are expected. Please note that only six credit hours or equivalent may be taken in a year. No more than 12 credit hours of this type may be taken during the Early Modern Studies degree program.

Format: Individual instruction
Prerequisite: Honours registration in Early Modern Studies and permission of the instructor and the Director.
Restriction: Students must have completed at least 60 credit hours prior to enrolment

EMSP 3610.03: Studies in Early Modern Subjectivities
In this course, students will explore a focused topic in an interdisciplinary context. Topics vary each year. Some of the topics are “Empirical Selves and Transcendental Selves in German Idealism”, “Freedom and Necessity in Enlightenment Debates about the Self”, “Self Portrait in Literature and the Visual Arts”, and “Reformation and Subjectivity in Early Modern Thought”.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Lecture/Discussion

NOTE: Not more than one of each course number can be taken for credit towards the Early Modern Studies Program.

EMSP 3620.03: Studies in Early Modern Natural Philosophy
In this course, students will explore a focused topic in an interdisciplinary context. Topics vary each year. Some of the topics are “Teleology”, “Exploration and Early Modern Natural Philosophy”, and “Mathematics and Metaphysics in the Seventeenth Century”.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Lecture/Discussion

NOTE: Not more than one of each course number can be taken for credit towards the Early Modern Studies Program.

EMSP 3630.03: Studies in Early Modern Social and Political Thought
In this course, students will explore a focused topic in an interdisciplinary context. Topics vary each year. Some of the topics are “States of Nature in Early Modern Political Thought”, “The Seventeenth-Century Discovery of Sovereignty”, “The Concept of the State”, and “Apocalyptic Thought in the Early Modern Period”.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Lecture/Discussion

NOTE: Not more than one of each course number can be taken for credit towards the Early Modern Studies Program.

EMSP 3640.03: Studies in Early Modern Aesthetics
In this course, students will explore a focused topic in an interdisciplinary context. Topics vary each year. Some of the topics are “The Quarrel of the Ancients and Moderns”, “The Status of the Artist in Society”, and “Storm and Stress”.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Lecture/Discussion

NOTE: Not more than one of each course number can be taken for credit towards the Early Modern Studies Program.

EMSP 4001.03: Conceptions of State, Society, and Revolution in the Early Modern Period I
This course examines political works, philosophical and literary, by important and/or influential writers from the sixteenth to seventeenth centuries, in the context of the decline of Renaissance Italy, the querelle des femmes, the Protestant Reformation, the English Civil War, the rise of absolutist monarchies, the Glorious Revolution, and early overseas European colonialism.

Instructors: Simon Kow
Format: Seminar
Exclusions: EMSP 4000.06

NOTE: EMSP 4001.03 & EMSP 4002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to fulfil the requirements of the EMSP Combined Honours Degree.

EMSP 4002.03: Conceptions of State, Society, and Revolution in the Early Modern Period II
This course examines political works, philosophical and literary, by important and/or influential writers from the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries, in the context of the rise of modern civil society, the expansion of European colonialism, changing gender norms, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars.

Instructors: Simon Kow
Format: Seminar
Prerequisites: EMSP 4001.03 or permission of the instructor
Exclusions: EMSP 4000.06

NOTE: EMSP 4001.03 & EMSP 4002.03 must normally be taken in the same academic year to fulfil the requirements of the EMSP Combined Honours Degree.

EMSP 4300.03: Nature and Romanticism
Kant’s “Copernican Revolution” in philosophy, ironically, marked a resurrection of a full-blown “idealist” philosophy of nature. This course will investigate the attempts of Kant’s followers to construct a natural philosophy and its engagement with the rival mechanical world picture. It explores the implications of this endeavour for the growth of romanticism, vitalism, and our modern picture of “nature”. It begins with an examination of the ambiguous heritage presented by Kant’s writings on nature, and proceeds through the attempts to develop a complete program of idealist Naturphilosophie and its spread throughout European thought by the medium of romanticist art and natural philosophy.

Instructor: Gordon McOuat
Format: Lecture/Tutorial
Crosslisting: HIST 5004.03, HSTC 4300.03

EMSP 4310.03: Newton and Newtonianism
This seminar involves a close study of the work of Isaac Newton, along with that of his supporters and detractors. Beginning with an overview of pre-Newtonian science, topics range from Newton’s rejection of Cartesianism through his contributions to mathematics, physics, astronomy and optics, along with his inductive scientific method, laws of motion, and calculus priority dispute with Leibniz. Also considered are lesser-known aspects of his career, such as his secretive pursuit of alchemy, his heretical theology, his attempts to unravel the apocalypse, his role in British statecraft, and his autocratic rule of the Royal Society.

A taxonomy of the forms of Newtonianism that emerged after Newton’s death also allows an exploration of iconographical and apologetic uses of Newton, and his differing legacies in Britain and France. This seminar concentrates on primary readings, including Newton’s Principia (1687), Opticks (1704), alchemical treatises and unpublished theological papers, as well as the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence (1717), anti-Newtoniana and eighteenth-century popularization of Newtonianism such as Voltaire’s Philosophical Letters (1733) and Maclaurin’s Account of Newton’s Discoveries (1748). Attention is paid to the social, cultural, and political aspects of Newtonianism and no prior knowledge of science is required.

Instructor: Stephen Snobelen
Format: Seminar
Crosslisting: HSTC 4400.03

EMSP 4501.03: Honours Seminar in Early Modern Studies: The Development of Aesthetic Theory in the Early Modern Period I
While the arts have been a topic of theoretical concern since antiquity, it is only in the early modern period that aesthetics emerged as an independent field of inquiry. This seminar will consider how the various understandings of the arts with which the early modern period began developed into the independent field of aesthetics. Throughout the course, art and literature of the period will be studied in conjunction with theoretical texts. This course may be designated as fulfilling the honours qualifying examination requirements for an EMSP combined honours BA (see Section 6 of Degree Requirements above). Students are also welcome to take this course as an elective with the permission of the instructor.

Instructor: Neil Robertson
Format: Seminar
Restriction: Students must have completed at least two years of university study (minimum 60 credit hours) prior to enrolment
Prerequisite: Honours registration in Early Modern Studies or permission of the instructor.
Exclusion: EMSP 4500.06

NOTE: EMSP 4501.03 & EMSP 4502.03 must be taken in the same academic year to fulfil the requirements of the EMSP Combined Honours degree.

EMSP 4502.03: Honours Seminar in Early Modern Studies: The Development of Aesthetic Theory in the Early Modern Period II
While the arts have been a topic of theoretical concern since antiquity, it is only in the early modern period that aesthetics emerged as an independent field of inquiry. This seminar will consider how the various understandings of the arts with which the early modern period began developed into the independent field of aesthetics. Throughout the course, art and literature of the period will be studied in conjunction with theoretical texts. This course may be designated as fulfilling the honours qualifying examination requirements for an EMSP combined honours BA (see Section 6 of Degree Requirements above). Students are also welcome to take this course as an elective with the permission of the instructor.

Instructor: Neil Robertson
Format: Seminar
Restriction: Students must have completed at least two years of university study (minimum 60 credit hours) prior to enrolment
Prerequisite: EMSP 4501.03 or permission of the instructor.
Exclusion: EMSP 4500.06

NOTE: EMSP 4501.03 & EMSP 4502.03 must be taken in the same academic year to fulfil the requirements of the EMSP Combined Honours degree.

EMSP 4551.03. Honours Thesis in Early Modern Studies: Reading and Research
In this course the student is assigned to a member of staff for regular meetings to discuss readings and present research for the purpose of completing an honours thesis in Early Modern Studies.

Format: Individual instruction
Prerequisite: Honours registration in Early Modern Studies, permission of the instructor and the Director of the program
Exclusion: EMSP 4550.06

NOTE: Students taking this course must register in and complete EMSP4551.03 and EMSP 4552.03 in consecutive terms; credits will not be granted if courses are not completed consecutively.

EMSP 4552.03. Honours Thesis in Early Modern Studies: Reading and Research
In this course the student is assigned to a member of staff for regular meetings to discuss readings and present research for the purpose of completing an honours thesis in Early Modern Studies.

Format: Individual instruction
Prerequisite: Honours registration in Early Modern Studies, permission of the instructor and the Director of the program
Exclusion: EMSP 4550.06

NOTE: Students taking this course must register in and complete EMSP4551.03 and EMSP 4552.03 in consecutive terms; credits will not be granted if courses are not completed consecutively.

EMSP 4610.03: Special Topics in Early Modern Subjectivities
The Special Topics courses focus on one author or one particular school of thought in an interdisciplinary context. Topics vary each year. Some of the topics are “Montaigne”, “Interiority in Shakespeare” and “Jansenism and the Self”.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar
Restriction: Students must have completed at least one year of university study (minimum 30 credit hours) before registering in this course.

NOTE: Not more than one of each course number can be taken for credit towards the Early Modern Studies Program.

EMSP 4620.03: Special Topics in Early Modern Natural Philosophy
The Special Topics courses focus on one author or one particular school of thought in an interdisciplinary context. Topics vary each year. Some of the topics are “Leibniz”, “Goethe’s Natural Science”, and “Experimentalism”.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar
Restriction: Students must have completed at least one year of university study (minimum 30 credit hours) before registering in this course.

NOTE: Not more than one of each course number can be taken for credit towards the Early Modern Studies Program.

EMSP 4630.03: Special Topics in Early Modern Social and Political Thought
The Special Topics courses focus on one author or one particular school of thought in an interdisciplinary context. Topics vary each year. Some of the topics are “Hobbes”, “Machiavelli and Reason of State Theories”, and “Milton and Early Modern Political Theory”.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar
Restriction: Students must have completed at least one year of university study (minimum 30 credit hours) before registering in this course.

NOTE: Not more than one of each course number can be taken for credit towards the Early Modern Studies Program.

EMSP 4640.03: Special Topics in Early Modern Aesthetics
The Special Topics courses focus on one author or one particular school of thought in an interdisciplinary context. Topics vary each year. Some of the topics are “Sterne and British Empiricism”, “Romanticism as a European Phenomenon”, and “Hegel’s Aesthetics”.

Instructor: Staff
Format: Seminar
Restriction: Students must have completed at least one year of university study (minimum 30 credit hours) before registering in this course.

NOTE: Not more than one of each course number can be taken for credit towards the Early Modern Studies Program

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