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International Summerschool 2007, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
'Dilemmas of Modernity. Science, scholars and society, 1880-1945'.
9-20 July 2007
Universiteit Utrecht
Descartes Centre for the History and Philosophy of the Sciences and
Humanities, in cooperation with Utrecht University Museum
Course code: C7
Introduction
The 19th century is often depicted as the triumph of modernity. In science,
social science and even in the humanities, positivism tried to combine
science, technology, sociology, arts, humanities, liberalism, and even
theology in one catch-all concept of human improvement. Science and
scholarship became the main carriers of this triumphalist idea of modernity.
But that is not the whole picture. This uncritical admiration of modernity
has bred its own opposition. Many Romanticists resented modernity. Notions
of lost worlds and of disenchantment (Max Weber's famous phrase) sprang up
at the same time as progress was celebrated. Modernity seems from its
inception to have been on endless trial. Especially in the 1890s doubts and
debates proliferated over a broad array of disciplines. Combined with the
shock of World War I and its cultural and political aftermath in the
interwar years this cultural and political turn constituted a deep crisis of
the European mind. It reflected the dilemmas of modernity, which still are
with us. The theme of this summer course, although historical in nature, is
therefore also highly relevant to current day problems.
See for the preliminary program and details on application on:
http://www.utrechtsummerschool.nl/index.php?page=courses&code=C7
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