HUMN540  - Beginnings of the Enlightenment

This course provides philosophical, artistic, and literary views of the human condition as it has been viewed in recent history, beginning with the Enlightenment. There will be an examination of the lyric poetry and the novel of the era, an assessment of the philosophic tradition and its opponents, and a closer look at the modern condition developed into the twentieth century. Readings for this course include: Jonathan Swift's Gulliver’s Travels; Jean Jacques Rousseau's The Confessions; Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals; and Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.