HIS 102
Unit 3:  Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment
 
 
Winter Palace

The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.  This was the residence of Catherine the Great who had an on-again/off-again relationship with the philosophes.  On the one hand, she corresponded with them and urged them to travel to Russia--Diderot did come for a while but then fled back to France--on the other hand, she implemented none of their enlightened ideas for Russia.  See my materials on Catherine in HIS 241.  The Winter Palace is now part of the Hermitage Museum.

Blue Separator Bar
 
What you must do in this unit What you can do in this unit
  • Listen to some further information about this unit as a mp3 file.  You can also read the information as a txt file.
  • Check out the National Archives website devoted to the Declaration of Independence, which has images, transcripts and critical articles.
  • When I teach this course on campus, I usually schedule a class on the development of classical music in the eighteenth century. Here is a link to my class notes on classical music (*.pdf). I have also put on www.nvcc.edu/itunesu/ (under HIS 102) a file with some of the selections of music that I play in that class.
Some videos that you can watch for this unit Extra Credit Options
  • Take the short 5-point quizzes for chapters 16 and 17. Log into Blackboard and look under "Chapter Quizzes." You have five minutes to complete each quiz (multiple-choice questions).
  • Watch Barry Lyndon and write a one-page paper (Was the movie an accurate depiction of eighteenth-century European life?) for a maximum of 50 points.
  • In a well-researched, one-page paper, explain who fired the first shot of the American Revolution for a maximum of 50 points.
  • For a maximum of 50 points extra credit, watch Amadeus and write a one-page paper in which you examine which aspects of the European Enlightenment the movie illustrated.
  • For a maximum of 50 points, read Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (free copy at art-bin.com/art/oweala.html) and explain, in a one-page paper, how his conception of capitalism does or does not match the characteristics of present-day capitalism.
  • For a maximum of 50 points extra credit, read Nicholas Copernicus, The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, 1543, excerpts, and write a one-page paper explaining some of the revolutionary ideas found in this text.  Please be sure to include quoted material.
  • For a maximum of 50 points extra credit, in a one-page paper, explain the principle points of Immanuel Kant's idealist philosophy as expounded in his Critique of Pure Reason (free copy at www.hkbu.edu.hk/~ppp/cpr/toc.html).
  • For a maximum of 25 points extra credit, in a long paragraph, What did Voltaire mean, in terms of the European Enlightenment, when he wrote "let us cultivate our garden" at the end of Candide (free copy at www.literature.org/authors/voltaire/candide/).
  • For a maximum of 25 points extra credit (maybe more), have a look at Isaac Newton, Principia Mathematica and write a long paragraph explaining some of the revolutionary ideas found in this text.  Please be sure to include quoted material.
  • For a maximum of 25 points extra credit, read Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), The Spirit of the Laws (1748), excerpts, and write a long paragraph in which you explain Montesquieu's main political ideas.  Please be sure to include quoted material.
  • For a maximum of 25 points extra credit, read Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778): A Discourse Upon The Origin and The Foundation of The Inequality among Mankind, and write a long paragraph in which you explain Rousseau's ideas about inequality.  Please be sure to include quoted material.
  • For a maximum of 10 points, read the Proclamation of Rebellion by King George III as he reacted to the American rebellion (1775) and write a short paragraph summarizing the King's view of his American subjects.
  • For extra credit, please suggest a relevant website for this unit of the course.  Send the title of the site, the url and a brief explanation why you find the information interesting and applicable to the material being studied this unit.
 
 

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