*Last class will take place at Ice House 104.

The Age of Enlightenment began in Europe in the 17th century and fully developed in the 18th. In this exciting, formative period, also known as the Age of Reason, writers, philosophers, economists, and scientists developed a new profound optimism about the world and the future of mankind. Human beings stood at the center of their universe as they sought to figure out what would be the best ways to govern and created laws to form a society which protected the individual rights of all. This fervent idealism, which recognized no limits on human potential, was considered naïve, misguided and even dangerous by many of their contemporaries and by some historians to this day. Nonetheless, their enthusiasm and optimism about the future would spread abroad to the American colonies, contribute to the American and French Revolutions, to the struggle for individual rights in the antislavery and suffragette movements. To be sure, millions of people are still living in poverty and are denied basic human rights in oppressive, tyrannical societies. Yet, the ideas and visions of the Enlightenment philosophers have survived; they are reflected not only in American laws and institutions but throughout the modern world. This class will introduce the major philosophers, their views, and beliefs, as well as the “Enlightened Despots” who adopted some of their proposals for reform. We will also discuss both the immediate and long-term impact of the Enlightenment.