A painting of Isaac Newton by William Blake. Isaac Newton was a natural philosopher and an important influence for Enlightenment philosophers. (Painting by William Blake, 1795.)
Instructor(s)
Prof. Jeffrey S. Ravel
MIT Course Number
21H.433
As Taught In
Spring 2011
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Description
This course asks students to consider the ways in which social theorists, institutional reformers, and political revolutionaries in the 17th through 19th centuries seized upon insights developed in the natural sciences and mathematics to change themselves and the society in which they lived. Students study trials, art, literature and music to understand developments in Europe and its colonies in these two centuries. Covers works by Newton, Locke, Voltaire, Rousseau, Marx, and Darwin.
Other Versions
Other OCW Versions
Archived versions: 