Reason and Revolution

3 credits · Undergraduate

(3 hrs Lecture) Reason and revolution are ideas central to contemporary politics. This course explores their roots in 18th century Europe. Enlightenment thinkers argue that society can be reorganized based on reason, freedom and equality. Counter-enlightenment thinkers argue that such attempts often degenerate into the type of violence and terror evident in the French Revolution. This course explores these issues in the writings of thinkers such as Immanuel Kant, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Edmund Burke, Mary Wollstonecraft, Thomas Paine and others. Restriction: Students may not hold credit for this course and POL-3235(3).