HIST-3435 The Enlightenment

This course examines the Enlightenment as both an intellectual and cultural watershed moment in the eighteenth century life in the West. Students will explore the social and political thought of the period, looking at a variety of topics such as natural law theory, religious toleration, and the critique of absolute monarchy. Time will also be devoted to examining the emerging cultural institutions in which such ideas took form and circulated from the second half of the seventeenth century to the French Revolution.