Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session
Syllabus Archive
The following syllabi come from a variety of different terms. They illustrate the evolution of this course over time, and are intended to provide alternate views into the instruction of this course.
Spring 2011, Jeffrey Ravel (PDF)
Spring 2010, Jeffrey Ravel (PDF)
Spring 2009, Jeffrey Ravel (PDF)
Spring 2008, Jeffrey Ravel (PDF)
Spring 2007, Jeffrey Ravel (PDF)
Spring 2006, Jeffrey Ravel (PDF)
Spring 2005, Jeffrey Ravel (PDF)
Spring 2004, David Ciarlo (PDF)
Spring 2003, Jeffrey Ravel (PDF)
Subject Description
Has there ever been an “Age of Reason?” In the western tradition, one might make claims for various moments during Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. In this class, however, we will focus on the two centuries from the late 1600s to the early 1800s, a period when insights first developed in the natural sciences and mathematics were seized upon by social theorists, institutional reformers and political revolutionaries who sought to change themselves and the society in which they lived. Through the study of trials, art, literature, music, politics, philosophy, and culture more generally, we will consider evolution, revolution, and their opponents in these two centuries.
Subject Requirements
Active class participation is central to our work together. Attendance is mandatory, and students are expected to arrive in class on time and prepared to discuss common readings. Students will write three seven-page papers during the term. Half the class members will rewrite the first essay, and half will have an opportunity to rewrite either the first or the second essay. In addition, to satisfy the CI-H speaking requirement, we will conduct two in-class debates; each student will have a central speaking role in one of the debates. Instructions for the papers and debates will be distributed later in the term. There will be no midterm and no final. Each assignment will be weighted as follows in the calculation of the final grade, although these calculations will also take into account improved performance during the course of the semester:
| ACTIVITIES | POINTS |
|---|---|
| Class Participation | 20 |
| Three 7-page essays | 50 each (150 total) |
| Class Debates | 30 |
| Total | 200 |
Criteria for HASS CI Subjects
Communication intensive subjects in the humanities, arts, and social sciences should require at least 20 pages of writing divided among 3-5 assignments. Of these 3-5 assignments, at least one should be revised and resubmitted. HASS CI subjects should further offer students substantial opportunity for oral expression, through presentations, student-led discussion, or class participation. In order to guarantee sufficient attention to student writing and substantial opportunity for oral expression, the maximum number of students per section in a HASS CI subject is 18, except in the case of a subject taught without sections (where the faculty member in charge is the only instructor). In that case, enrollments can rise to 25, if a writing fellow is attached to the subject.
Statement on Cheating and Plagiarism
The web now hosts many sites which offer college-level papers of varying quality on a variety of topics. I am well acquainted with these sites, and with others that offer detection services to professors. Buying a paper and submitting it as your own work is cheating. Copying sections from someone else’s print or online work into your own without an acknowledgement is plagiarism. MIT has strict policies against both activities that I will fully enforce. For the appropriate MIT definitions and policies, visit the following websites. If you are uncertain about what constitutes cheating or plagiarism, please contact me before submitting the work in question.
MIT Online Writing Communication Center
Calendar
| SES # | TOPICS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | |
| 2 | Witchcraft and Magic | |
| 3 | Leonarde’s Ghost | |
| 4 | The Cartesian Insight | |
| 5 | Cartesianism in the Seventeenth Century |
First paper due Writing Workshop |
| 6 | English Radicalism and The Trial of Charles I, 1647-1649 | |
| 7 | 1688 in England | Rewrite of the first paper due |
| 8 |
A Visit to the MFA |
A class visit to the Boston Museum of Fine Art |
| 9 | Newtonianism | |
| 10 | The First Debate | First debate |
| 11 | State and Art in the Dutch Golden Age | |
| 12 | Spinozism and the Idea of a “Radical” Enlightenment | |
| 13 | Enlightenment France | Second paper due |
| 14 | Voltaire Goes to England, and Persians Come to Paris | |
| 15 | Are Men Machines? Are Machines Alive? | |
| 16 | Encyclopédie I: The Structure of Knowledge | |
| 17 | Encyclopédie II: The Place of the Mechanical Arts | Rewrite of second paper due |
| 18 | Jean-Jacques Rousseau vs. The French Enlightenment | |
| 19 | Second Debate | Second debate |
| 20 | French Revolution I: The Ideals of 1789 | |
| 21 | French Revolution II: The Lessons of 1793-1794 | |
| 22 | The Political Backlash: Conservatism | |
| 23 | The Cultural Backlash: Romanticism | |
| 24 | What is Enlightenment? (1784 & 1984) | |
| 25 | Conclusion | Third paper due |
