Enlightenment Routes

Lecture 3, “Beginnings,” begins the backstory of contemporary theory by discussing some of the contributions of the Middle Ages, including those of the Arab and Islamic worlds of the time, especially in Al-Andalus. It then offers a very brief consideration of the Renaissance.

Lecture 4, “Enlightenment(s),” starts with a “typical” presentation of the Enlightenment but then proposes two revisions: first, seeing the enlightenment as made up of multiple, fragmented, and even contradictory elements and enlightenments; and second, understanding the counter-enlightenments as a constitutive part of the larger enlightenment cultural formation.

Lecture 5, “Rationalism and Descartes,” presents an overview of rationalism as a major epistemological position through a consideration of the contributions of René Descartes.