Spring 2007
HIS 350L • The Enlightenment
| Unique | Days | Time | Location | Instructor |
| 39690 |
|
- |
|
Matysik |
Course Description
This course will introduce students to the eighteenth-century Enlightenment and its legacies. We will focus in particular on the ambivalent relationship of Enlightenment thinkers to their own beloved concepts of îuniversalismí and îcosmopolitanism.í Some readings will help students gain insight into the social and cultural circumstances that made the critical thinking of the Enlightenment possible. The majority of readings, however, will be primary source readings of Enlightenment thinkers and their descendants. Students should be prepared to read significant amounts of philosophy and social theory.
Grading Policy
First 6-7 page paper (including outline and draft): 35% Second 6-7 page paper (including outline and draft): 40% Class Participation, including weekly 1-2 page response papers: 25%
Texts
Preliminary Sample Texts/Readings (subject to change) Dorinda Outram, The Enlightenment Immanuel Kant, Political Writings Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract Denis Diderot, Rameauðs Nephew Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, The Dialectic of the Enlightenment (selections) Paul Gilroy, The Black Atlantic (selections)
