HIS 8225-001 The Enlightenment Spring 2003

CRN: 32917 W from 05:20 pm to 07:20 pm (STAUG 401) Dr. Johnson

Description: This graduate course will examine some of the principal interactions between society, politics, and culture that characterized the intellectual movement known as the Enlightenment, which arose out of the Scientific Revolution of the preceding century and in turn helped to shape the ideology of the American and French Revolutions that began during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. We will examine the ideas of the "enlightened" thinkers within their cultural, scientific, political and socioeconomic context. We will also consider their linkage to problems of class, gender, and ethnic relations. Special topics can be explored according to the interests of participants.

Work in the course will primarily involve discussions based on the common readings and occasional short oral reports to highlight significant issues and analyze additional readings on special subjects. Oral participation will be graded (20 % of total grade, including 10 % for oral reports). Written work will include two short review essays (about 5-7 pages, 20% each) plus a medium-length analytical/bibliographical paper (about 10-15 pages) on a topic to be chosen by the student in consultation with the instructor (first draft: 10 %; final revision: 30%).

Reading list:

Dorinda Outram, The Enlightenment (Cambridge U. Press, 1995)

Isaac Kramnick, Enlightenment Reader (Penguin, 1995)

Denis Diderot, Rameau's Nephew & d'Alembert's Dream (Penguin)

Voltaire, Candide (Penguin)

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract & Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Washington Square Press)

Alexis de Tocqueville, The Old Regime and the French Revolution (Doubleday, 1955)

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Norton Critical Ed.)