Summer 2003

HIS f323C • 18th-Century Europe

Course Description

This course examines European history during a period characterized by intense debate about the social, cultural, and intellectual order. What were the insights and the limitations of the Enlightenment critiques of the world? How successful were writers and rulers in reforming eighteenth-century society?

Some of the specific issues we will explore include: the Enlightenment critique of religion, slavery, "tradition," torture, and social injustice; theories about power and the ideal political regime; women during the eighteenth century; success and limitations in reforming Europe's social, legal, and economic order.

Grading Policy

3 Tests (75%); attendance; in class writing assignments (25%)

Texts

Isser Woloch, Eighteenth-Century Europe: Tradition and Progress, 1715-1789 Voltaire, Candide Cesare Beccaria, An Essay on Crimes and Punishments Rousseau, The Social Contract Olaudah Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano Goldoni, Mirandolina

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