HIST 213(F) The European Enlightenment in the Eighteenth Century

The eighteenth-century Enlightenment was a broad movement of ideas, both critical and constructive, aimed at reforming the prevailing order of European life in a direction of greater tolerance, individual freedom and improvement in the material conditions of human life. The Enlightenment transformed the way governments governed and the way their subjects expected to be treated, leaving a legacy of political principles and social expectations that has profoundly affected modern history. The movement was spearheaded by two generations of thinkers who came to be known as "philosophes," writers who thought of themselves more as social critics and reformers than disinterested seekers of truth, and who believed they were in a position to apply lessons distilled from two millennia of recorded history to the problems of contemporary life. Although this movement dominated much of the intellectual life of the eighteenth century, it was opposed by formidable forces, not the least of them rival intellectuals with more favorable views of authority and traditional religion. This course will explore the Enlightenment movement and its critics in the context of eighteenth-century life through readings of exemplary texts by such authors as Voltaire, Montesquieu, Diderot, Rousseau, Burke, Mandeville, Beccaria and Condorcet. We will focus on new conceptions of liberty, ideas of natural sociability, the critique of Christianity and the Church, theories of progress, reform of criminal justice system, and other themes. Evaluation will be based on two short papers, a midterm exam and a final exam. Group B

Hour: L. BEILIN