David Hume: 18th Century Philosopher
2011 is the 300th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest figures in Western Philosophy – David Hume. As well as an economist and historian, Hume was specifically known for his scepticism and empiricism, and was also an important figure in the Scottish Enlightenment period in the 18th century. In this audio collection, The Open University’s Nigel Warburton is joined by A.C. Grayling and other philosophers to discuss Hume’s key theories around the self, induction and his argument a
Exploring Philosophy
Have you ever considered what being conscious actually means? By choosing to live in a particular state are you consenting to be subject to all its laws? For some there’s an assumption that philosophy might not be relevant to modern life but Dr. Nigel Warburton, senior lecturer in Philosophy at The Open University argues that many of us today are faced with philosophical questions such as these as we live our lives in the twenty first century. In this collection we ask academics to discuss the
Wordsworth, De Quincey and Dove cottage
Can a location inspire great poetry? To what extent can a person’s environment influence their art? After leaving the area as a child the Romantic poet William Wordsworth returned to the Lake District and remained there from 1799 to 1802. Surrounded by scenery he cherished Wordsworth composed some of his best poetry in Dove Cottage, but the building was also the residence of friend Thomas De Quincy whom documented his time with the Wordsworth’s as well as his own experiences in the property.
Duchess of Malfi: Deconstructing the play
Does the Duchess of Malfi have any resonance with modern-day audiences? Are it’s themes of politics and revenge still relevant today? Since it was originally published in the seventeenth century the play has been interpreted in a variety of ways, each different director examining the story and realising a unique translation of the work. In 2010 the Greenwich Theatre performed The Duchess of Malfi and in this collection we follow the cast and crew as they analyse the language used by John Webs
Wordsworth, De Quincy and Dove cottage
Can a location inspire great poetry? To what extent can a person’s environment influence their art? After leaving the area as a child the Romantic poet William Wordsworth returned to the Lake District and remained there from 1799 to 1802. Surrounded by scenery he cherished Wordsworth composed some of his best poetry in Dove Cottage, but the building was also the residence of friend Thomas De Quincy whom documented his time with the Wordsworth’s as well as his own experiences in the property.
Art history: modern and contemporary
Baffled by modern art and architecture? You’re not alone! This collection gives new insight into today’s shifting kaleidoscope of visual culture by placing it in the context of the developments of the 19th and 20th century. In the mid 19th century there was a growing realisation that everything had changed. Industry was booming, and the speed of life increasing. Artists, thinkers and architects strove to find new ways of encapsulating this new world … and modernism was born. The coll
Art history: early modern
The world of the early modern period (C10th - C16th) was one of religious obsession, power struggles and plunder. But it was also a world of stunning artistic endeavour. This collection shows how, encoded in the art and architecture of the time, you can find stories of political machinations, female influence and surging movements of people. We may think our own era has a monopoly on long-distance travel, but in the mediaeval period it was perfectly possible for Western Catholic artists to enc
Mi'kmaq: First Nation people
Can heritage continue to inform the way we live today? Is it possible to balance traditional ideas with a modern life? The Mi'kmaq people have had roots in Conne River Newfoundland in Canada for generations, but it was only officially designated as a reserve in 1987. Many of its indigenous inhabitants still feel a connection with the past and in recent times there has been a revival of interest in Mi'kmaq culture. These films give insight into Mi'kmaq life and examine the renewal of traditional
Women Writers: Voices in Transition
In the last century which women writers have truly challenged the existing forms of literature? How did they make their voices heard using brand new techniques and styles? For centuries there have been women writers who have changed the face of literature, but we tend to talk of their lives and work in very certain terms. This series of video-slideshows reveals how writing and reputation are often forged in transition, uncertainty and change. In these 4 films we re-examine the lives, work and in
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi
This free course, John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, concentrates on Acts 1 and 2 of John Webster's Renaissance tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi. It focuses on the representation of marriage for love and the social conflicts to which it gives rise. The course is designed to hone your skills of textual analysis.
First pu
Approaching literature: Reading Great Expectations
This free course, Approaching literature: Reading Great Expectations, considers some of the different ways of reading Great Expectations, based on the type of genre the book belongs to. This is one of the most familiar and fundamental ways of approaching literary texts. The novel broadens the scope of study of a realist novel, in both literary and historical terms. The course includes extracts from critical writings, which are discussed in detail.
Author(s):
Introduction This course explores two important concepts relating to the creation of music, namely composition and improvisation. The concepts of composition and improvisation are closely linked, and the reason for looking at non-Western music is partly to demonstrate this truth – it should help to clarify these two concepts, and the relationship between them. We couldn't hope to cover a representative sample of the world's musics in a single course, and I have certainly not tried to do so here. W
Introduction Historians on both sides of the Atlantic have argued that the empire was not an issue of popular interest in the late nineteenth-century Britain and the United States. This course examines some of the evidence available to assess the truth of this claim. More broadly, the course raises questions related to evidence: is it possible to discover what ‘ordinary’ people thought about expansionism? ‘I couldn't give a damn’; ‘I don't know anything about politics’; ‘Why don't they
Introduction This course introduces key questions about language and thought, such as how can language, which is public and accessible, be used to convey thoughts, which seem hidden from view. This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 3 study in Arts and Humanities.
Introduction This course looks at a selection of short poems in German that were set to music by Franz Schubert (1797–1828) for a single voice with piano, a genre known as ‘Lieder’ (the German for ‘songs’). Once they became widely known, Schubert's Lieder influenced generations of songwriters up to the present day. This course discusses a choice of Schubert's settings of Goethe's poems, and using recordings, the poems (in German with parallel translations into English) and the some music scores.
7.3 The Great Nation The expanded France, which styled itself the Great Nation, provoked a second European coalition against it, but by 1799 it had established itself as a force to be reckoned with: a military force in the first instance but also and not least a potent ideological force. Its influence and attraction spread far beyond its frontiers to other peoples under foreign rule, to Poland under the dominion of Prussia, Russia and Austria, to Greece under the Turks, and to Ireland under the British. A Dublin
7.2 The main consequences of the Revolution What were the main consequences of the Revolution? Any answer demands so many qualifications that the question may be best answered in broad terms. ‘The Revolution’, says Norman Hampson, ‘put an end to a way of life’ (1975, p. 174). Suddenly, the traditional assumptions of the Old Regime, the old certainties, were gone, transformed. New perspectives and new expectations took their place. ‘In the long run,’ Norman Davies argues, ‘the Revolution probably had its greatest impact in
1.5 Water power This second phase was achieved by focusing on the water-power potential of the site. Water power had been the catalyst for the original industrial development, and it seemed apt to capitalise on that. It was decided to install a new waterwheel where the original one had been. This provided an important visitor attraction, and also presented the opportunity to use the waterwheel to generate electricity for the site, thus providing significant cost savings. Furthermore, as part of that building
Acknowledgements This course was written by Dr Carol Richardson The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) This content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence Grateful acknowledgement is made to the followin
2.5 Is the author dead? When Roland Barthes (1915–80) wrote ‘The Death of the Author’ (first published 1968, reprinted in Barthes 1977), he did not mean that, like Wimsatt and Beardsley, the author had been, or should always have been, absent in the interpretation of art works. Instead his position is a historicised one: while once it might have been acceptable to refer to the author in the interpretation of an art work, now, in a post-modern world, it is not. Michel Foucault (1926–84) responded to Barthes (
