History 4445/01: The Age of the Enlightenment
Spring 2011
MW 2:00-3:15PM, SO 2035
Dr. Gerrit Voogt
Office: SO 4106
Office hours: MW 3:30-4:30PM, or by
appointment
Contact: by Vistamail
Required Texts:
Isaac Kramnick (ed.), The Portable Enlightenment Reader---henceforward indicated as
PER
Voltaire, Candide and Other Stories (Oxford University Press, 2006)
Montesquieu, Persian Letters (Penguin Books, 1993)
Robin Winks & Thomas E. Kaiser, Europe from the Old Regime to the Age of Revolution.
–henceforward: Winks & Kaiser.
1. Course description: This course offers an examination of Enlightenment thought
through a contextualized discussion of major developments in European thought during
the eighteenth century. Topics include rationalism and the notion of the social
applicability of science, the idea of progress, the critique of established religion, new
economic theories, and epistemological interests as expressed in the Encyclopédie of
Diderot and d'Alembert. The Enlightenment brought a major transformation in the
intellectual history of Europe and its New World extensions, and this course will explore
and analyze this change and the nature of the "new thinking" that ran counter to
established traditions, chiefly through a close reading of primary texts.
2. Course requirements:
1. The students are expected to come to class prepared, i.e. you must be able (and, of
course, eager) to discuss the assigned readings. Overall class participation plays a
role in the determination of the final grade. Each unexcused absence from class
causes an automatic reduction of the ten points for participation by one half point.
2. Most of the handouts for this course will be made available through WebCTVista; it is the student’s responsibility to print and bring these materials to class,
to keep up with the calendar and possible revisions of the syllabus posted on
Vista.
3. There will be a midterm and a final exam on the collective readings and the topics
discussed in class. A few additional short exams will be given on the readings.
You will write a research paper and make a brief class presentation on your
research (separate instructions will be posted).
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4. Grading is as follows:
Short exams
Midterm
Paper
Presentation
Final
Participation
Total points
10
20
20
10
30
10
100
Letter grades are assigned as follows: A=90-100; B=80-89; C=70-79; D=60-69;
F=1-59.
5. Absence from an exam or class presentation will result in a zero grade. In case of
a medical or other emergency, contact me before or on the day of the exam, and
submit the proper documentation.
6. Arrive promptly; late arrivals will be counted as absent if over fifteen minutes
late. If you have to leave class early, inform the instructor at the beginning of
class. Please do not use laptops except in the first two rows. CELL PHONES
MUST BE TURNED OFF DURING CLASS. Don’t annoy the class and
embarrass yourself! In case of an anticipated emergency, please set phone to
vibrate and inform the instructor.
7. Academic integrity: Every KSU-student is responsible for upholding the
provisions of the Student Code of Conduct, as published in the Undergraduate and
Graduate Catalogs. Section II of the Student Code of Conduct addresses the
University’s policy on academic honesty, including provisions regarding
plagiarism and cheating, unauthorized access to University materials,
misrepresentation/ falsification of University records or academic work, malicious
removal, retention, or destruction of library materials, malicious/ intentional
misuse of computer facilities and/or services, and misuse of student identification
cards. Incidents of alleged academic misconduct will be handled through the
established procedures of the University Judiciary Program, which includes either
an “informal” resolution by a faculty member, resulting in a grade adjustment, or
a formal hearing procedure, which may subject a student to the Code of Conduct’s
minimum one semester suspension requirement.
3. Course schedule: readings and test/exam dates indicated in bold.
January 10
Introduction--intellectual history;
preliminary definitions PER 1-17 (Kant &
D’Alembert)
January 17
MLK-Day –no classes
January 12
Backgrounds: Europe 1500-1700
Winks & Kaiser chs. 1 & 2 (1-97)
January 19
The Scientific Revolution and the
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Enlightenment PER 26-41 (Condorcet &
Bacon); PER 51-60 (Voltaire); PER 181185 (Descartes)
January 26
Fictional travel: Voltaire’s Candide.
Voltaire, Candide.
January 24
The Enlightenment in brief Winks &
Kaiser ch. 3; Travel literature as critique
PER 265-274 (Diderot & Tahiti)
January 31
Fictional travel: Voltaire’s Candide. Test:
Voltaire, Candide.
February 2
Travel and “science fiction”: Voltaire,
“Micro-mégas”; Montesquieu’s
comparative critique (see tutorial)
Montesquieu, Persian Letters
February 7
February 9
Montesquieu continued
Reason, humanity, and bienfaisance. PER
Montesquieu, Persian Letters
185-187, 222-228 (Locke); 242-256
(Mandeville, Fable of the Bees; Pope);
202-209 (La Mettrie)
February 14
February 16
Diderot, D'Alembert & the Encyclopédie.
The philosophes & religion I: Deism &
natural religion Porter, ch. 4; PER, 96PER 17-21 (Diderot)
101 (Newton); 115-134 (Voltaire); 160167 (Franklin, Jefferson); 174-180
(Thomas Paine).
February 21
February 23
The philosophes & religion II – skepticism The philosophes & religion III: materialism
& agnosticism PER 134-140 (Rousseau);
and atheism PER 140-150 (D’Holbach).
Submit paper topic proposal
160-168 (Jefferson & Franklin); 75-81
(Bayle); 109-115 (David Hume).
*Paper proposal due
February 28
March 2
Review for Midterm
Midterm exam (bring Blue/ Green Book)
March 7
March 9
Spring Break
Spring Break
March 14 (Midpoint)
March 16
The philosophes & religious tolerance PER The philosophes & religious tolerance
cont’d
81-90 (Locke)
March 21
March 23
An Enlightenment for Women? PER 568- An Enlightenment for Women? (cont’d)
579 (Rousseau); 591-601 (Macaulay’s
PER 609-618 (Olympe de Gouges); 618rebuttal of Rousseau)
628 (Wollstonecraft)
March 28
March 30
The Enlightenment and economics:
The Radical Enlightenment –Spinoza et al.
Physiocrats, and Adam Smith. PER, 496(readings on Vista)
515 (Quesnay, Smith).
April 4
April 6
The Radical Enlightenment continued
Political ideas of the Enlightenment PER
(readings on Vista)
395-415 (Locke; Montesquieu)
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Paper progress reports I
April 13
Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality PER
424-430
Paper progress reports III
April 20
Paper progress reports V
April 11
Political ideas of the Enlightenment PER
395-415 (Locke; Montesquieu)
Paper progress reports II
April 18
Rousseau’s Social Contract PER 430-441
Paper progress reports IV
April 25
Paper progress reports VI
April 27
Enlightenment and Revolution
Winks & Kaiser, ch. 4; PER 442-452
(Paine; Am. Decl. of Independence); 459468 (Madison; Decl. of Rights)
May 4
Final exam
May 2
Enlightenment and Revolution;
Conclusions; Review for Final
Papers due
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