HISTORY OF AMERICAN THOUGHT, 1859 TO THE PRESENT
Designed for those who are interested in the role of ideas and culture in modern American history. Examine developments in philosophy, science, political theory, social criticism, and the arts in American life from 1859 to the present. Read the works of a number of influential thinkers and writers, as well as explore a variety of intellectual movements, which shaped the cultural worlds of late 19th- and 20th-century Americans. Themes include: the influence of Darwinism on religion; the impact of industrialization on ideas about American society; the revolt against formalism in philosophy, literature, and the social sciences; early twentieth-century conceptions of race, ethnicity, and gender; the responsibility of the intellectual in times of national and global crisis; post-WWII liberalism and existentialism; the rise of postmodernism in the academy and American popular culture, and the persistent contestations over the meaning and scope of American national identity.
Prerequisites & course information
Requisites: Sophomore standing or 3 credits in HISTORY or HIST SCI Course Designation: Core GenEd - Humanities & Arts Breadth - Humanities Level - Intermediate L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Spring 2025 Learning Outcomes: 1. Identify and summarize the broad contours of and major issues in American intellectual history Audience: Undergraduate 2. Identify and illustrate the transnational and transtemporal dimensions of American thought Audience: Undergraduate 3. Demonstrate the relevance of a historical perspective to contemporary issues Audience: Undergraduate 4. Judge the context in which sources were created, searching for chronological and other relationships among them, and assessing the sources in light of that knowledge Audience: Undergraduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Identify and summarize the broad contours of and major issues in American intellectual history Audience: Undergraduate 2. Identify and illustrate the transnational and transtemporal dimensions of American thought Audience: Undergraduate 3. Demonstrate the relevance of a historical perspective to contemporary issues Audience: Undergraduate 4. Judge the context in which sources were created, searching for chronological and other relationships among them, and assessing the sources in light of that knowledge Audience: Undergraduate
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026-2027