Rationality, Irrationality, and Modernity
Course meetings: Mondays per 6-8 TUR 4112
Instructor: Susan Hegeman
A nearly axiomatic definition of modernity, usually associated with Max Weber, emphasizes the increasing rationality – and rationalization – of social, economic, political, intellectual and other spheres of human life, and a concomitant “disenchantment” of the world: the inevitable and progressive banishment of the “irrationalities” of religion, “superstition,” emotion, aesthetics, and so forth. Yet other great theorists of modernity, notably Freud, exposed a pervasive irrational core to contemporary existence. In this course, we’re going to explore the problem of rationality versus irrationality in the context of Western modernity, particularly with regard to the meaning and persistence of “irrational” belief (what is “belief,” anyway?). We will also consider the modern project of attempting to “rationally” explain the “irrational,” and thus also delve into questions of the relationship of science to other fields of human experience and inquiry, including religion, the arts, and humanities.
