Readings | The Age of Reason: Europe from the 17th to the Early 19th Centuries | History

Required Reading

[E&S] = Edwards, Kathryn A., and Susie Speakman Sutch, eds. Leonarde's Ghost: Popular Piety and the Appearance of a Spirit in 1628. Truman State University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9781931112796.

[Descartes] = Descartes, René. Discourse on Method. Hackett Publishing Company, 1988. ISBN: 9780915144853. (View on: Project Gutenberg, LibriVox.)

[D&J] = Dobbs, Betty Jo Teeter, and Margaret C. Jacob. Newton and the Culture of Newtonianism. Humanity Books, 1994. ISBN: 9781573925457.

[Offray] = de la Mettrie Julien, Offray. Man-Machine. Hackett Publishing Company, 1994. ISBN: 9780872202641.

Optional

[HUNT] = Hunt, Lynn, et al. The Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures, Vol. II: Since 1340. Bedford/St Martin's, 2010. ISBN: 9780312439460.

Course readings.
SES #	TOPICS	READINGS AND RESOURCES
1	Introduction
2	Witchcraft and Magic	Ruggiero, Guido, ed. "Witchcraft and Magic." In A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance. Wiley-Blackwell, 2006, pp. 475-90. ISBN: 9781405157834. [E&S] "Leonarde's Ghost," pp. 1-45. Optional [HUNT] pp. 468-76. Web Resources: Les Tres riches heures du Duc de Berry Chartres-West Portal
3	Leonarde's Ghost	[E&S] pp. 46-119.
4	The Cartesian Insight	[Descartes] all.
5	Cartesianism in the Seventeenth Century Writing Workshop	Web Resources: "Rene Descartes" - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
6	English Radicalism and The Trial of Charles I, 1647-1649	Cochrane, Eric, Charles M. Gray, and Mark Kishlansky, eds. University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization Volume 6, Early Modern Europe: Crisis of Authority. Chicago, 1987, pp. 342-49. ISBN: 9780226069487 "An Agreement of the People." "The Putney Debates, 1647" Optional [HUNT] pp. 497-504. [HUNT] pp. 540-7.
7	1688 in England	Pincus, Steven C. A., ed. England's Glorious Revolution, 1688-1689: A Brief History With Documents. Bedford/St Martin's, 2005, pp. 69-71. ISBN: 9780312167141. "The Declaration of Rights. 1689." "Roger L'Estrange and John Locke as Case Study."
8	A Visit to the MFA
9	Newtonianism	[D&J] pp. 3-104. Web Resources: The Newton Project
10	The First Debate
11	State and Art in the Dutch Golden Age	Temple, Sir William. "The United Provinces: A Description and an Analysis." The Low Countries in Early Modern Times: A Documentary History. In Herbert H. Rowen, ed. Walker & Company, 1972, pp. 213-23. ISBN: 9780802720351. Alpers, Svetlana. "With a Sincere Hand and a Faithful Eye: The Craft of Representation." In The Art of Describing: Dutch Seventeenth-Century Art. University of Chicago Press, 1984, pp. 72-118. ISBN: 9780226015132. Optional [HUNT] pp. 504-7
12	Spinozism and the Idea of a "Radical" Enlightenment	Jonathan Israel, and Michael Silverthrone, eds. Theological-Political Treatise. Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN: 9780521530972. Israel, Jonathan. "Introduction," pp. viii-xxxiv Spinoza, Baruch. "Preface" and "Chapter 1: On Prophecy" pp. 3-26. [Preview Hackett edition with Google Books]
13	Enlightenment France
14	Voltaire Goes to England, and Persians Come to Paris	Voltaire. "Letters 8-11." In Letters on England. Translated by Leonard Tancock. Penguin Classics, 1980, pp. 44-56. ISBN: 9780140443868. [See on Fordham University or preview on Google Books] Montesquieu, Charles –Louis de Secondat. "Letters 1-4, 11-14, 24-35, 147-161." In The Persian Letters. Translated by C. J. Betts. Penguin Classics, 1973. ISBN: 9780140442816. [See on Persian Letters Project] Optional [HUNT] pp. 561-80.
15	Are Men Machines? Are Machines Alive?	Riskin, Jessica."Eighteenth-CenturyWetware." Representations 83 (2003): 97-125. (PDF - 2.8MB) [Offray] pp. 20-76.
16	Encyclopédie I: The Structure of Knowledge	Schwab, Richard N., and Walter E. Rex, trans. The Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert Collaborative Translation Project. MPublishing, University of Michigan Library, 2009. The Frontpiece to The Encyclopedia. d'Alembert, Jean Le Rond. "Preliminary Discourse." Diderot, Denis. "Detailed Explanation of the System of Human Knowledge." ———. "Map of the System of Human Knowledge." Translated by Benjamin Heller. ———. "Art." Ascribed by Jacques Proust. de Villeneuve, Joachim Faiguet. "Sunday."
17	Encyclopédie II: The Place of the Mechanical Arts	Web Resources: Technology and Enlightenment: The Mechanical Arts in Diderot's Encyclopédie
18	Jean-Jacques Rousseau vs. The French Enlightenment	Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. "A Discourse on the Arts and Sciences." In The Social Contract and the Discourses. Everyman's Library, 1993. ISBN: 9780679423027. [See on Online Library of Liberty] ———. "Excerpts." In Jean-Jacques Rousseau, His Educational Theories Selected from Emile, Julie, and Other Writings. Edited by R. L. Archer. Barron's Educational Series, 1964, pp. 55-75. ISBN: 9780764191558. [Preview with Google Books]
19	Second Debate
20	French Revolution I: The Ideals of 1789	Censer, Jack R., and Lynn Hunt. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. Penn State University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780271020884. [See on Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution.] "Social Causes of the Revolution." Chapter 1. "Monarchy Embattled." Chapter 2. "The Enlightenment and Human Rights." Chapter 3. "Women and the Revolution." Chapter 5. "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen." (1789) [See on The Avalon Project] "Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen." (1791) [See on City University of New York] "The Constitution of 1791." (1791) [See on The Online Source Book] Web Resources: French Revolution. History Teachers. Optional [Hunt] pp. 581-608.
21	French Revolution II: The Lessons of 1793-1794	Censer, Jack R., and Lynn Hunt. "The Monarchy Falls." Chapter 6 in Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution. Penn State University Press, 2001. ISBN: 9780271020884. "Documents on the Terror." In The French Revolution: A Document Collection. Edited by Laura Mason and Tracey Rizzo. Wadsworth Publishing, 1998, pp. 225-43. ISBN: 9780669417807. Kafker, Frank A., James M. Laux, and Darline Gay Levy, eds. "Why Terror in 1793-1794?" In The French Revolution: Conflicting Interpretations. 5th ed. Krieger, 2002, pp. 185-226. ISBN: 9781575240923. Optional [Hunt] pp. 608-20.
22	The Political Backlash: Conservatism	Boffa, Massimo. "Counter-Revolution." In A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution. Edited by François Furet and Mona Ozouf. Harvard, 1989, pp. 640-8. ISBN: 9780674177284. Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on the Revolution in France." In The University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, Volume 7: The Old Regime and the French Revolution. Edited by Keith Michael Baker. University of Chicago Press, 1987, pp. 428-45. ISBN: 9780226069500. [Preview on Google Books] de Maistre, Joseph. "Considerations on France." In The University of Chicago Readings in Western Civilization, Volume 7: The Old Regime and the French Revolution. Edited by Keith Michael Baker. University of Chicago Press, 1987, pp. 428-45. ISBN: 9780226069500. [See on Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: Exploring the French Revolution] Optional [Hunt] pp. 621-37, and 651-59.
23	The Cultural Backlash: Romanticism	Wordsworth, William. "Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey, On Revisiting The Banks Of The Wye During A Tour. July 13, 1798". Optional [Hunt] pp. 659-61.
24	What is Enlightenment? (1784 & 1984)	Kant, Immanuel. "What is Enlightenment? (1784)." In The Enlightenment: A Brief History with Documents. Edited by Margaret C. Jacob. Bedford/St. Martins, 237, pp. 202-208. ISBN: 9780312179977. Foucault, Michel. "What is Enlightenment? (1984)" In A Michel Foucault Reader. Edited by Paul Rabinow. Pantheon, 1984, pp. 32-50. ISBN: 9780394713403.