《英国思想史作品选读》课程教学大纲
【课程英文名称】Selected Readings of British Intellectual History
【课程类型】专业方向课程
【适用专业】英语语言文学专业
【开课学期】第5学期
【先修课程】英国历史、英国社会与文化
【总学时数】 36
【总学分数】 2
【教研室】英国研究中心
【执笔人】沈矗
【审核人】
【编写（修订）日期】：2024年7月1日
一、课程简介
《英国思想史作品选读》是英语专业本科三年级的专业选修课程。本课程旨在帮助英语专业的学生了解英国自16世纪以来社会文化思想发展的基本脉络，熟悉并理解深刻影响英国社会文化发展的主要思想家的思想和主要观点。在此基础之上，本课程将点面结合，最大限度地兼顾和平衡英国思想史的概貌介绍和相关思想家的著作选读，由点及面，在相关精选作品的阅读过程中对现代英国思想史的脉络形成一个清晰的认知。
二、课程教学目标
课程目标1（知识目标）：了解英国自16世纪以来社会文化思想发展的基本脉络，熟悉并理解深刻影响英国社会文化发展的主要思想家的思想和主要观点。
课程目标2（能力目标）：通过总结现代国家社会文化发展的一般规律，培养学生批判地接受西方人文思想的意识与能力，培养学生的批判性思维能力，形成批判性认知。
课程目标3（素养目标）：以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为指导，落实立德树人根本任务，深入挖掘课程蕴含的思政元素，增强社会责任感，提升文化自信。
三、先修课的要求
本课程要求学生必须掌握一定的英国历史与英国社会文化的基本知识，熟悉特定的思想得以产生的历史背景与时代特征，以便学生探讨具有较强思辨色彩的思想史问题。因此，“英国历史”与“英国社会与文化”课程是开设 “英国思想史选读”课程的必要条件。
四、教学环节、内容及学时分配
Thomas More’s Utopia: Ideas that Cut across Disciplines
In this selected reading course on British intellectual history, students will be introduced to the breadth and depth of ideas covered in Thomas More’s Utopia, a canonical text that has attracted the attention of researchers in diverging fields of inquiry including economics, political philosophy, morality and ethics, life philosophy, gender studies, law and religion. In our exploration of the central tenets in More’s novel, we will introduce the thoughts of major British thinkers in the modern times, while paying homage to major European intellectuals when their ideas can be compared with those of the British thinkers.
Week 1 and 2 General Introduction (1) and (2): What Is Intellectual History? (支撑课程目标1、2、3)
In the first two lectures, a general introduction will be given, which will lay out course objectives, scope, content and outlines. Students will be guided to think through the term “Intellectual History” as we draw upon the work of famous intellectual historians, both Western and Chinese, in order to arrive at an adequate understanding of Intellectual History as a discipline. Different elaborations on the term will be surveyed, along with the history of the term’s evolution, and the contemporary European – esp. British – focuses in Intellectual History.
Week 3 and 4 On Historical Thinking (支撑课程目标1、2、3)
Any course on intellectual history needs to grapple with the nature of historical thinking. Where does history stand in relation to the present? This lecture begins with philosophical thinking about the past and the present, questioning the conventional view of history as static and proposing to rethink the relationship in a dialectical fashion.
Week 5 and 6 Introduction to Thomas More the Intellectual (支撑课程目标1、2)
During the two weeks’ classes, students will be transported back to Thomas More’s England in the 16th century. We will revisit the economic, socio-political, religious and cultural landscape of 16th-century England, the larger historical context where Thomas More as an intellectual lived and wrote his Utopia. We will look at Thomas More as a devout Catholic, a Renaissance humanist and a political philosopher, which will outline the intellectual makeup of the intellectual and the road leading up to his writing of Utopia.
Week 7 The Critique of the Contemporary English Society in Utopia Book One(支撑课程目标1、2)
This week, students will be asked to read Book One of Utopia, which lays the foundation for all subsequent discussions about the novel.
Week 8, 9 and 10 Economic Dimensions of Utopia: Private Property, Division of Labor and Hierarchical Social Relations (支撑课程目标1、2、3)
We will begin by exploring the economic dimensions of Utopia. We will first examine the concept of private property, brought up by the fictional character Rafael Hythloday in Utopia. We will then trace ideas about private property back to Plato and visit different British intellectual stances on private property represented by John Locke and Adam Smith, and end with an examination of Karl Marx’s conception of private property.
We will then introduce the concept of labor and the division of labor by probing the views of British thinkers, and briefly examine the effects of such division in modern industrialized societies – on both individual and collective levels – as critiqued Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, and William Morris. We will also ponder the relationship between labor and leisure in modern capitalist societies as explored by 20th-century European thinkers from the Frankfurt School.
Week 11, 12 and 13 Utopia and Political Governance: the State and the Individual; Top Down or Bottom Up? (支撑课程目标1、2、3)
In our explorations of the political dimensions of Utopia, we will compare this island with what appears to be its very opposite – dystopia. Where is the boundary line between utopia and dystopia? By revisiting the major works in English-language dystopian literature, we will explore surprising parallels between More’s Utopia and the fictional dystopias that find echoes in the modern society. What can these parallels reveal about utopia as a socio-political ideal? In this regard, John Stuart Mill’s work will be brought within purview. We will then probe the differences between two ways in which political structures are established: the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach. Adam Smith and his liberal ideas on society will be brought to bear upon the discussion. In comparison, we will bring in Thomas Carlyle whose “great man” theory stands at odds with the route advocated by Smith.
Week 14 and 15 Life Philosophy, Religion and Other Matters (支撑课程目标1、2、3)
Thomas More’s conception of the Utopian life philosophy merits particular attention. Echoing the thought of ancient philosophers such as Epicurus, Diogenes, and the Stoics, the Utopian life philosophy, with its emphasis on happiness and pleasure, invites a discussion of the British philosophy of utilitarianism by Bentham and Mill. We will then discuss the religious aspect in Utopia and ponder questions such as “is religion reconcilable with reason and science?” and “where does religion stand in relation to art and philosophy?” through the work of major European philosophers.
Week 16 Final Exam Essay Questions
五、教学策略与方法建议
本课程在教学上以教师为主导，结合英国历史文化的发展过程和现代英国思想史的概貌，要求学生课后阅读有关章节的文献资料，通过互动式教学激发同学参与课堂讨论得积极性，力求让同学们深入领会英国思想的精髓及其基本特征。
六、教材与学习资源
本课程教材自编，并提供如下先修参考书目以供同学们查用。主要参考书目如下：
1）《西方政治思想史》（第二版），徐大同、张桂林、高建、佟德志，高等教育出版社。
2）History，Religion，and Culture , Collini. Cambridge University Press.
3) Economy, Polity and Society, Collini. Cambridge University Press.
4) Victorian Minds, Gertrude Himmelfarb. Ivan R. Dee Publisher, Chicago.
5) The Moral Imagination, Gertrude Himmelfarb. Souvenir Press.
6)《牛津英国史》， Kenneth O. Morgan. 钟美荪注释，外语教学与研究出版社。
7）The Rise and Fall of the British Empire. Lawrence James. New York.
七、考核方式
本课程主要包括以下考核方式：
考核方式1：课堂表现，占比 25%（对应课程目标1、2、3）
考核方式3：期中Essay，占比 25%（对应课程目标1、2、3）
考核方式4：期末Essay，占比 50%（对应课程目标1、2、3）
