MODULE OUTLINE
Modern Liberal Arts
University of Winchester
Semester 1 2015
LA 3901 First Principles: core texts
(Atomic Nature)
Thursdays 09.00 HL1
Elina Staikou
Module Learning Outcomes
Show an ability to employ theorists critically in relation to issues
Show an ability to use concepts as critical tools in discussing issues and questions as appropriate
Show an ability to employ theoretical perspectives as critical tools
Therein, to develop a critical voice informed and deepened by appropriate use of theory as critique.
Sustain a critical relationship to the reading of core texts
Week 1
Introduction: The Problem of the Atom
Readings:
Feynman, Richard (1991) “Atoms in Motion”, pp 3-17.
Zalasiewicz, Jan (2012) The Planet in a Pebble, A Journey into the
Earth's Deep History, pp 1-7.
Wider reading:
Feynman, Richard (1991) “Atoms in Motion” in A World Treasury of
Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics, Timothy Ferris (ed), San
Francisco: Little, Brown and Company.
Zalasiewicz, Jan (2012) The Planet in a Pebble, A Journey into the
Earth's Deep History, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Collingwood, R.G. (2014) The Idea of Nature, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Pullman, Bernard (1998) The Atom in the History of Human Thought,
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pyle, Andrew (1997) Atomism and its Critics, From Democritus to
Newton, Bristol: Thoemmes Press.
Week 2
Leucippus & Democritus
Reading:
Barnes, Jonathan (ed) (1987) Early Greek Philosophy, pp 242-288.
Wider reading:
Barnes, Jonathan, 1982, The Presocratic Philosophers, rev. ed., London and
New York: Routledge.
Cartledge, Paul, 1997, Democritus (The Great Philosophers), London:
Routledge.
Taylor, C.C.W., 1999, ‘The atomists,’ in A.A. Long (ed.), The Cambridge
Companion to Early Greek Philosophy, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, pp. 181–204.
Edmunds, Lowell, 1972, ‘Necessity, Chance, and Freedom in the Early
Atomists,’ Phoenix, 26: 342–57
Osborne, Catherine, 2004, Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction,
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Warren, James, 2002, Epicurus and Democritean Ethics: An Archaeology of
Ataraxia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Week 3
Epicurus: Letter to Herodotus
Readings:
Epicurus, Letter to Herodotus
http://www.epicurus.net/en/herodotus.html
Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus
http://www.epicurus.net/en/menoeceus.html
Wider reading:
Clay, Diskin, 1983. Lucretius and Epicurus, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Englert, Walter G., 1987. Epicurus on the Swerve and Voluntary Action,
Atlanta: Scholars Press.
Jones, Howard, 1989. The Epicurean Tradition, London: Routledge.
Purinton, Jeffrey S., 1999. “Epicurus on ‘Free Volition’ and the Atomic
Swerve,” Phronesis, 44: 253–299.
O'Keefe, Tim, 2010. Epicureanism. Durham: Acumen.
Warren, James, 2002, Epicurus and Democritean Ethics: An Archaeology of
Ataraxia, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Warren, James (ed.), 2009. The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Week 4
Lucretius: De Rerum Natura
Readings:
Lucretius The Nature of Things, Books I & II
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/785/785-h/785-h.htm
Wider reading:
Kenney, E. J. (1977) Lucretius, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Clay, Diskin (1983) Lucretius and Epicurus, Ithaca: Cornell University
Press.
Gale, M. (ed.) (2007) Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Lucretius,
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gillespie, S. and Hardie, P. (eds.) (2007) The Cambridge Companion to
Lucretius, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Godwin, J. (2004) Lucretius, London: Bristol Classical Press.
Johnson, W. R. (2000) Lucretius and the Modern World, London:
Duckworth.
Week 5
Descartes's Anti-Atomism
Reading:
Descartes' Principles of Philosophy, § 1: 1-11, 23-30, 48-53, 75, 2: 1-7, 11-14,
17-28, 37-40, 64.
http://www.ahshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/descprin.pdf
Wider reading:
Gabbey, A. (1980) “Force and Inertia in the Seventeenth Century:
Descartes and Newton” in Descartes: Philosophy, Mathematics and
Physics, S. Gaukroger (ed.), Sussex: Harvester Press.
Garber, D. (1992) “Descartes' physics” in The Cambridge Companion
to Descartes, J. Cottingham (ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Garber, Daniel (1992) Descartes' Metaphysical Physics. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Gaukroger, S., Schuster, J., Sutton, J. (eds.) (2000) Descartes' Natural
Philosophy, London: Routledge.
Week 6
Reading:
Marx & Nietzsche on Atomism
Marx, Karl (2000) The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean
Philosophy of Nature, Part I: Chapters 1-3, Part II: Chapters 1-2, online
version: https://marxists.anu.edu.au/archive/marx/works/1841/drtheses/index.htm
Nietzsche, Friedrich (2014 ) Beyond Good and Evil, section 12, 17, 36.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1968) The Will to Power §624, 636
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1911) Early Greek Philosophy & Other Essays,
pp 167-169.
Wider reading:
Week 7
Stanley, John (1995) The Marxism of Marx's Doctoral Dissertation,
Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol 33, no 1.
Thomas, Paul (1976) “Marx and Science”, Political Studies 24, 123.
Schmidt, Alfred (1971) The Concept of Nature in Marx, London: NLB.
Spencer, Joseph M. (2014) “Left Atomism: Marx, Badiou, and Althusser on
the Greek Atomists”, Theory & Event, vol 17, issue 3.
Babich, B. (1984) Nietzsche's Philosophy of Science: Reflecting Science on the
Ground of Art and Life, Albany: State University of New York Press.
Babich, B. and Robert S. Cohen (eds) (1999) Nietzsche,
Epistemology, and Philosophy of Science, Nietzsche and The
Sciences II, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Caygill, H (1999) “Nietzsche and Atomism” in Nietzsche,
Theories of Knowledge, and Critical Theory, Boston: Springer
Netherlands, pp 27-36.
Ansell-Pearson, K and Caygill, H (eds) (1984) The Fate of the
New Nietzsche, Aldershot: Avebury.
Power, Nina (2001) “On the Nature of Things: Nietzsche and
Democritus” Pli journal, 12, pp 118-130.
The Quantum Hypothesis
Reading:
Planck, Max (2003) 'The Quantum Hypothesis', pp 373-380
Bohr, Niels (2003) 'The Quantum Character of the Atom', pp 384-387
Einstein, Albert (2003) 'On A Heuristic Point of View Concerning the
Production and Transformation of Light', pp 380-383
Wider reading:
Dolling, Lisa et.al. (eds) (2003) The Tests of Time: Readings in the
Development of Physical Theory, New Jersey: Princeton University
Press.
Pullman, Bernard (1998) The Atom in the History of Human Thought,
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rosenthal-Schneider, Ilse (1980) Reality and Scientific Truth:
Discussions with Einstein, von Laue, and Planck, Detroit: Wayne State
University.
Planck, Max (1997) Eight Lectures on Theoretical Physics, New York:
Dover Publications.
Stone, A. Douglas (2013) Einstein and the Quantum, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press.
Faye, January (1991) Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy. Dordrecht:
Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Barad, Karen (2007) Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics
and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, Durham: Duke
University Press.
Week 8
The Einstein-Bohr Debate
Reading:
Kumar, Manjit (2009) Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate
about the Nature of Reality, pp xi-xvi.
Niels, Bohr (1949) Discussions with Einstein on Epistemological
Problems in Atomic Physics
https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/dk/bohr.htm
Einstein, Albert (1949) Einstein's Reply to Criticisms
https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/einstein.h
tm
Wider reading:
Kumar, Manjit (2009) Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about
the Nature of Reality, London: Icon Books.
Whitaker, Andrew (1996) Einstein, Bohr and the Quantum Dilemma,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Faye, J., Folse H (eds) (2013) Niels Bhor and Contemporary Philosophy,
Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol. 153.
Schilpp, Paul Arthur (1949) Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Halpern, Paul (2015) Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat, New York: Basic
Books.
Bohr, Niels (1987) Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature
(Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr Series, vol 1), Woodbridge: Ox
Bow Press.
Week 9
Heisenberg: Physics & Philosophy
Reading:
Heisenberg, Werner (1971 ) Physics and Philosophy, The Revolution
in Modern Science, Chapters 1-4.
Wider reading:
Heisenberg, Werner (1932) Nobel Lecture:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1932/heisenberg-lecture.pdf
Heisenberg, Werner (1971) Physics and Beyond: Encounters and
Conversations, New York: Harper & Row.
Heisenberg, Werner and F. S. C. Northrop (1999) Physics and
Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science (Great Minds Series),
New York: Prometheus.
Heisenberg, Werner (1989) Encounters with Einstein: And Other
Essays on People, Places, and Particles, New Jersey: Princeton
University Press.
Cassidy, David C. (2009) Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum
Physics, and the Bomb, Bellevue Literary Press.
Week 10
Schrödinger: Physics & Life
Reading:
Schrödinger, What is Life? Chapters 1, 7 and Epilogue
Wider reading:
Schrödinger, Erwin (1933) Nobel Lecture:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1933/schrodinger-lecture.pdf
Schrödinger, Erwin (2004 ) What is Life?, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Barad, Karen (2008), "Schrödinger’s cat", in Smelik, Anneke, Lykke
Nina, Bits of life: feminism at the intersections of media, bioscience,
and technology, Seattle: University of Washington Press, pp. 165–176.
Gribbin, John (2012) Erwin Schrödinger and the Quantum Revolution,
London: Bantam Press.
Bitbol, Michel (1996) Schrödinger's Philosophy of Quantum
Mechanics, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Week 11
Karen Barad: Matter & Meaning
Reading:
Barad, Karen (2007) Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and
the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, pp 317-336, 352, 353-364.
Barad, Karen (November 2010) “Quantum entanglements and hauntological
relations of inheritance: dis/continuities, spacetime enfoldings, and justiceto-come” Derrida Today, special issue: Deconstruction and Science, 3 (2):
240–268. http://humweb.ucsc.edu/feministstudies/faculty/barad/baradderrida-today.pdf
Wider reading:
Barad, Karen (2007) Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics
and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning, Durham: Duke
University Press.
Barad, Karen (Spring 2003) “Posthumanist performativity: toward an
understanding of how matter comes to matter” Signs, 28 (3): 801–831.
Barad, Karen (1999), "Agential realism: feminist interventions in
understanding scientific practices (1998)", in Biagioli, Mario, The
science studies reader, New York: Routledge, pp. 1–11.
Hinton, Peta (2013) The Quantum Dance and the World's
‘Extraordinary Liveliness’: Refiguring Corporeal Ethics in Karen
Barad's Agential Realism, Somatechnics 3:1, 169-189.
Week 12
The Atomic Bomb
Reading:
Einstein's Letters to President Roosevelt
http://hypertextbook.com/eworld/einstein.shtml
Rhodes, Richard (1986) The Making of the Atomic Bomb, pp 655-678.
Screenings from Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie, Peter Kuran
(1995)
Wider reading:
Rhodes, Richard (1995) Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb,
New York: Simon and Schuste.
Weart, Spencer R. (1988) Nuclear Fear: A History of Images,
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Gosling, Francis George (1994) The Manhattan Project: Making the
Atomic Bomb. Washington, DC: United States Department of Energy,
History Division.
Kelly, Cynthia C (2006) Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project:
Insights into J. Robert Oppenheimer, "Father of the Atomic Bomb".
Hackensack, New Jersey: World Scientific.
Oppenheimer, J. Robert (1989) Atom and Void: Essays on Science and
Community, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Groves, Leslie (1962) Now it Can be Told: The Story of the Manhattan
Project, New York: Harper & Brothers.
Cassidy, David C. (2009) Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum
Physics, and the Bomb, Bellevue Literary Press.
Powers, Thomas (2000) Heisenberg's War: The Secret History Of The
German Bomb, Boston: Da Capo Press.
Assessment
Assessment 1: Essay 1 (50%): Describe the similarities and the differences between
Democritus, Epicurus and Lucretius's philosophies of the atom. (2250-2500 words; deadline:
Thursday 22nd October, Week 5 given to Catherine in the Office by 3.30pm).
Assessment 2: Essay 2 (50%): choose…
1. Critically discuss aspects of the modernist critiques and uses (Descartes, Nietzsche, Marx)
of ancient atomism
2.With reference to the texts discussed in class critically assess how 20th century theoretical
physics revolutionised classical physics and broke with our fundamental perceptions and
beliefs about the natural world
3. Individually negotiated essay question.
(2250-2500 words; deadline Thursday 10th December, week 12 to Catherine, by 3.30)
Use Harvard Referencing
We attempt always to return work within 3 working weeks (15 days working days).
References
Ansell-Pearson, K and Caygill, H (eds) (1984) The Fate of the New Nietzsche, Aldershot: Avebury.
Babich, B. (1984) Nietzsche's Philosophy of Science: Reflecting Science on the Ground of Art and Life, Albany:
State University of New York Press.
Babich, B. and Robert S. Cohen (eds) (1999) Nietzsche, Epistemology, and Philosophy of Science, Nietzsche and
The Sciences II, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Barad, Karen (2007) Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and
Meaning, Durham: Duke University Press.Barad, Karen (November 2010) "Quantum entanglements and
hauntological relations of inheritance: dis/continuities, spacetime enfoldings, and justice-to-come". Derrida
Today, special issue: Deconstruction and Science, 3 (2): 240–268.
Barad, Karen (2008), "Schrödinger’s cat", in Smelik, Anneke, Lykke Nina, Bits of life: feminism at the
intersections of media, bioscience, and technology, Seattle: University of Washington Press, pp. 165–176.
Barad, Karen (Spring 2003) "Posthumanist performativity: toward an understanding of how matter comes to
matter", Signs, 28 (3): 801–831.
Barad, Karen (1999), "Agential realism: feminist interventions in understanding scientific practices (1998)", in
Biagioli, Mario, The science studies reader, New York, New York: Routledge, pp. 1–11.
Barnes, Jonathan (ed) (1987) Early Greek Philosophy, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books.
Barnes, Jonathan, 1982, The Presocratic Philosophers, rev. ed., London and New York: Routledge.
Bitbol, Michel (1996) Schrödinger's Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic
Publishers.
Bohr, Niels ( 2003) 'The Quantum Character of the Atom' in Lisa M. Dolling et.al., The Tests of Time: Readings in
the Development of Physical Theory, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Bohr, Niels (1987) Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature (Philosophical Writings of Niels Bohr Series, vol
1), Woodbridge: Ox Bow Press.
Niels, Bohr (1949) Discussions with Einstein on Epistemological Problems in Atomic Physics
https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/dk/bohr.htm
Cartledge, Paul (1997) Democritus (The Great Philosophers), London: Routledge.
Cassidy, David C. (2009) Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and the Bomb, Bellevue Literary
Press.
Caygill, H (1999) “Nietzsche and Atomism” in Nietzsche, Theories of Knowledge, and Critical Theory, Boston:
Springer Netherlands, pp 27-36.
Clay, Diskin (1983) Lucretius and Epicurus, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Collingwood, R.G. (2014) The Idea of Nature, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cottingham, John (1992) The Cambridge Companion to Descartes, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Derrida, Jacques ( 2007) “My Chances / Mes Chances: A Rendezvous with some Epicurean Stereophonies” in
Psyche, Inventions of the Other, vol 1, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Descartes, Rene ( 2009) Principles of Philosophy, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Dirac, P.A.M (1967) The Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dirac, Paul A. M. (1933) Theory of Electrons and Positrons, Nobel Lecture, nobelprize.org
Edmunds, Lowell (1972) ‘Necessity, Chance, and Freedom in the Early Atomists,’ Phoenix, 26: 342–57
Einstein, Albert ( 2003) 'On A Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light' in
Lisa M. Dolling et.al., The Tests of Time: Readings in the Development of Physical Theory, Princeton: Princeton
University Press
Englert, Walter G., 1987. Epicurus on the Swerve and Voluntary Action, Atlanta: Scholars Press.
Epicurus (1993) The Essential Epicurus, New York: Prometheus Books.
Faye, January (1991) Niels Bohr: His Heritage and Legacy, Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Faye, J., Folse H (eds) (2013) Niels Bhor and Contemporary Philosophy, Boston Studies in the Philosophy and
History of Science, vol. 153.
Ferris, Timothy (ed) (1991) Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics, London: Little Brown Company.
Feynman, Richard (1991) “Atoms in Motion” in A World Treasury of Physics, Astronomy, and Mathematics,
Timothy Ferris (ed), San Francisco: Little, Brown and Company.
Gabbey, A. (1980) “Force and Inertia in the Seventeenth Century: Descartes and Newton”, in Descartes:
Philosophy, Mathematics and Physics, S. Gaukroger (ed.), Sussex: Harvester Press.
Gale, M. (ed.) (2007) Oxford Readings in Classical Studies: Lucretius, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Garber, D. (1992) “Descartes' physics” in The Cambridge Companion to Descartes, J. Cottingham (ed.),
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Garber, Daniel (1992), Descartes' Metaphysical Physics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Gaukroger, S., Schuster, J., Sutton, J. (eds.) (2000) Descartes' Natural Philosophy, London: Routledge.
Gillespie, S. and Hardie, P. (eds.) (2007) The Cambridge Companion to Lucretius, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Gribbin, John (2012) Erwin Schrödinger and the Quantum Revolution, London: Bantam Press.
Groves, Leslie (1962) Now it Can be Told: The Story of the Manhattan Project, New York: Harper & Brothers.
Godwin, J. (2004) Lucretius, London: Bristol Classical Press.
Gosling, Francis George (1994). The Manhattan Project: Making the Atomic Bomb. Washington, DC: United
States Department of Energy, History Division.
Halpern, Paul (2015) Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat, New York: Basic Books.
Heisenberg, Werner (1990 ) Physics and Philosophy, The Revolution in Modern Science, London: Penguin Books.
Heisenberg, Werner (1971) Physics and Beyond: Encounters and Conversations, New York: Harper & Row.
Heisenberg, Werner (1989) Encounters with Einstein: And Other Essays on People, Places, and Particles, New
Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Hinton, Peta (2013) The Quantum Dance and the World's ‘Extraordinary Liveliness’: Refiguring Corporeal Ethics
in Karen Barad's Agential Realism. Somatechnics 3:1, 169-189.
Johnson, W. R. (2000) Lucretius and the Modern World. London: Duckworth.
Jones, Howard (1989) The Epicurean Tradition, London: Routledge.
Purinton, Jeffrey S. (1999) “Epicurus on ‘Free Volition’ and the Atomic Swerve,” Phronesis, 44: 253–299.
Kelly, Cynthia C (2006) Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project: Insights into J. Robert Oppenheimer, "Father
of the Atomic Bomb". Hackensack, New Jersey: World Scientific.
Kenney, E. J. (1977) Lucretius, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Kumar, Manjit (2009) Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality, London: Icon
Books.
Lucretius ( 1995) On the Nature of Things: De Rerum Natura, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.
Marx, Karl (2000) The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature, online version,
marxists.org
Nietzsche, Friedrich ( 2014) Beyond Good and Evil, Prelude to a Philosophy of the Future, New York: Vintage
Books.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1991) The Gay Science, New York: Random House USA.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1996) Philosophy in the Tragic Age of the Greeks, Washington: Regnery Publishing Inc.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1968) The Will to Power, New York: Vintage.
Nietzsche, Friedrich (1911) Early Greek Philosophy & Other Essays, New York: The Macmillan Company.
O'Keefe, Tim (2010) Epicureanism. Durham: Acumen.
Oppenheimer, J. Robert (1989) Atom and Void: Essays on Science and Community, Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press.
Osborne, Catherine (2004) Presocratic Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Planck, Max ( 2003) 'The Quantum Hypothesis' in Lisa M. Dolling et.al., The Tests of Time: Readings in the
Development of Physical Theory, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Planck, Max (1997) Eight Lectures on Theoretical Physics, New York: Dover Publications.
Power, Nina (2001) “On the Nature of Things: Nietzsche and Democritus” Pli journal, 12, pp 118-130.
Powers, Thomas (2000) Heisenberg's War: The Secret History Of The German Bomb, Boston: Da Capo Press.
Pullman, Bernard (1998) The Atom in the History of Human Thought, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Pyle, Andrew (1997) Atomism and its Critics, From Democritus to Newton, Bristol: Thoemmes Press.
Rhodes, Richard (1986)The Making of the Atomic Bomb, New York: Simon and Schuster.
Rhodes, Richard (1995) Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb, New York: Simon and Schuste.
Rosenthal-Schneider, Ilse (1980) Reality and Scientific Truth: Discussions with Einstein, von Laue, and Planck,
Wayne State University.
Schilpp, Paul Arthur (1949) Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schrödinger, Erwin (2004 ) What is Life?, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Schmidt, Alfred (1971) The Concept of Nature in Marx, London: NLB.
Smith, K. (2009) Matter Matters: Metaphysics and Methodology in the Early Modern Period, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Spencer, Joseph M. (2014) “Left Atomism: Marx, Badiou, and Althusser on the Greek Atomists”, Theory & Event,
vol 17, issue 3.
Stanley, John (1995) The Marxism of Marx's Doctoral Dissertation, Journal of the History of Philosophy, vol 33,
no 1.
Stone, A. Douglas (2013) Einstein and the Quantum, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Swift, Paul A. (2008) Becoming Nietzsche: Early Reflections on Democritus, Schopenhauer, and Kant, Oxford:
Lexington Books.
Taylor, C.C.W., 1999, ‘The atomists,’ in A.A. Long (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 181–204.
Thomas, Paul (1976) “Marx and Science”, Political Studies 24, 1-23.
Warren, James, 2002, Epicurus and Democritean Ethics: An Archaeology of Ataraxia, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press
Warren, James (ed.), 2009. The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism, Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Weart, Spencer R. (1988) Nuclear Fear: A History of Images. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Whitaker, Andrew (1996) Einstein, Bohr and the Quantum Dilemma, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Zalasiewicz, Jan (2012) The Planet in a Pebble, A Journey into the Earth's Deep History, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
MODERN LIBERAL ARTS MARK SCHEME
We want you to be very clear about how we will mark your work and that means you must know with each
assessment what you are expected to do. We hope that this does not mean you will feel that you have to write
to a formula. We are trying to build in considerable freedom to your assessments; but as the term ‘liberal arts’
conveys, in every freedom there is a discipline, and in every discipline there is a freedom; together, we hope,
they constitute the struggle of learning.
There are (often but not always) two types of essays in MLA: the first assessment title in a module will most
often be set by the tutor and will be restricted to texts explored in the first weeks. The second assessment title
can be tutor-led, or chosen from a list of titles, or can be negotiated individually; this varies according to the
tutor and the module. This assignment can explore wider issues, employ wider reading, or explore a single
issue in depth. Students will bear some responsibility for the references consulted in the second essay,
increasing through years 1, 2 and 3.
Tutor-set assessments (disciplina)
Student/tutor-set assessments (libertas)
1st module essay
2nd module essay
Marks for
 depth of understanding specialist
terminology
 depth of understanding of set texts
 depth of understanding of ideas/concepts
 evidence by quotation
 answering the question
 correct referencing
 word limit
Marks for
 depth of understanding of texts
 depth of understanding and application of
ideas/concepts
 evidence-based critical arguments
 depth/breadth of reading (depending on
the question)
 answering your own question
 correct referencing
 word limit
Note the difference between essays 1 and 2: the first one is marked only on your understanding of texts; the
second one is marked on understanding, on your own reading, and your emerging critical voice. Be careful
here; being critical does not mean just giving your opinions. It means making a case based on evidence from
your reading, using ideas and concepts from texts. It does not mean you have to fight for one side of an
argument or another… ambivalence will be treated with great respect. But for every essay, remember this: if
we (and you) get the title right, then by answering the question you will be doing exactly what is required.
Over years 1, 2 and 3 the levels of your work are raised by using increasingly challenging texts, ideas, concepts
and writers, and by the way you are able to employ ideas, concepts and writers from other modules across the
degree in increasingly sophisticated ways.
For all essays, then
Depending on the question you will need to




Demonstrate reflection on module material and the wider contexts from across the degree which
might impact upon it
Communicate experiences of texts and ideas as appropriate
Show knowledge and understanding of specialist terminology
Demonstrate requisite research skills in gathering, summarizing and presenting evidence including
proficiency in referencing and academic conventions.
For essay 1
Depending on the question you will need to





Show careful reading of primary sources
Show a knowledge of theoretical perspectives and/or works
Show an understanding of abstract concepts and ideas within theoretical perspectives
Show an ability to work with theorists and their concepts in various forms of assessment as
appropriate
Show evidence of engagement with texts and ideas concerned with issues raised in the module.
For essay 2
Depending on the question you will need to




Show an ability to employ theorists critically in relation to issues
Show an ability to use concepts as critical tools in discussing issues and questions as appropriate
Show an ability to employ theoretical perspectives as critical tools
Therein, to develop a critical voice informed and deepened by appropriate use of theory as
critique.
 Sustain a critical relationship to ideas related to the module
It is often hard to explain in generic terms how any particular essay could have been improved. But, cautiously,
we can say the following:
In general,
a 3rd (40-49%) may have ignored the question, may have not given much evidence of reading, may have clumsy
sentence structure, but will still have made a bona fide attempt at the work.
a 2.2 (50-59%) will have provided evidence of reading, quotations where appropriate, clear sentence structure,
attended to the question or title, but not related the material in ways which synthesise more developed and
complex thinking.
a 2.1 (60-69%) will have evidence of reading through effective selection of quotation, being able to make
specific points, and to relate material together to make broader and/or deeper and more complex
observations. At the higher end, it may have been able to relate material from across modules, or across the
degree as a whole, to synthesise separate ideas and issues into more holistic comments, ideas and problems.
The questions addressed will be getting ever more difficult and important, including those that are asked
without being answered.
a 1st (70-100%) will make a little go a long way. Quotations may carry implications beyond their precise
content; sentences will be clear but able to refine complex ideas succinctly; most importantly, it will be able to
combine the microcosm of its subject matter with the macrocosm of its place in the wider context, and these
contexts will be drawn form the overall, experience of the degree, growing obviously from years 1 to 3. No
inaccuracies of grammar or sentence construction, and no referencing mistakes are expected here. The voice
of the essay will be in control of difficult material throughout. Above all the questions asked and addressed will
be compelling in their difficulty and import.
Module Evaluations
(not taught)
Catalogue summary
One version of a Liberal Arts education expresses itself through the study of what is called ‘the canon’ of Great
Texts. In the USA in the 20th century the project was re-defined at the University of Chicago when University
president Robert Hutchins collaborated with Mortimer Adler to develop a course for the purpose of filling in
gaps in higher education, to make one more well-rounded and familiar with the "Great Books" and ideas of the
past three millennia. It was felt that such study was an end in itself, and that association with and study of
great texts would take root in the students character, especially with regard to virtue. Mortimer Adler lists
three criteria for including a book on the list: the book has contemporary significance; that is, it has relevance
to the problems and issues of our times; the book is inexhaustible; it can be read again and again with benefit;
the book is relevant to a large number of the great ideas and great issues that have occupied the minds of
thinking individuals for the last 25 centuries. Our module enables individual tutors to choose their own core
text and to build a period of intensive study in and around that text.