HIS-225 History of Modern Ideas, 1750-1890
A survey of some of the major currents of modern
intellectual history giving attention first on
the legacy of the Scientific Revolution and
Enlightenment and then the following challenges
issuing from the romantic movement and German
Idealism. The course then focuses on the
emergence of disciplined materialistic studies
focusing on language, society, economics, law,
biology, and ecology which transformed
mid-century understandings of the world,
particularly engaging the work of Marx and Mill.
Equal attention, however, will be directed to
challenges to the very basis of knowledge that
culminated in the work of Nietzsche and other
cultural critics.