HIS 3405 - THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND REVOLUTION

credits: 3.0
Crosslisted/Same As: PSC 3405
HIS 3405-PSC 3405 Full Title: THE ENLIGHTENMENT AND REVOLUTION. NOTE: History Majors, this course can fulfill either the European OR American history requirement in your major. Students will explore the complex collection of events, persons, and ideas that constitute what has come to be called The Enlightenment. While never a coherent or intentional movement, Enlightenment is nonetheless a useful term for a collection of political ideas and ways of thinking that transformed the European and American-North and South-worlds. After establishing a baseline of ideas drawn from the usual suspects-John Locke, Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Mary Wollstonecraft, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others-we will explore the manifestation of those ideas in three distinct revolutions: the American, the French, and the Haitian. Along the way we will reflect upon the promises and achievements of The Enlightenment, its limitations and blind spots, and its legacy. Objectives: A) Identify and explain the major people, events, and issues that shaped the Enlightenment; B) Identify and explain the means by which ideas were transmitted and transformed across social, cultural, and national borders; C) Evaluate the relationship between ideas and social and political action; D) Compare arguments about the nature and legacy of the Enlightenment; E) Communicate effectively in writing and speaking about the Enlightenment.
Method of Instruction: Lectures and class discussion. Meets *WRT and *WEP Distribution Requirements.