HONORS 2406 Renaissance to Revolution: The Individual and the World

Spring 2020 218 French House MW 1:30-2:50 pm

Instructors: Suzanne Marchand (History)

James Stoner

(Political Science)

Office: 225D Himes Hall 214 Stubbs Hall Telephone: 578-4454 578-2538

e-mail: smarch1@lsu.edu poston@lsu.edu

Office hours: M 3:00-4:30 Tu 12:30-1:15

M 3:00-5:00 W 9:00-10:00

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Course Overview HNRS 2406 is an interdisciplinary course that explores European conceptions of the individual and the world during the eventful period between the Renaissance and the French Revolution. HNRS 2406 will expand and deepen the knowledge students have acquired in HNRS 2000, Critical Analysis, by uncovering the historical and philosophical “back story” of contemporary debates that are shaping life in our time. Classes will generally be divided into 1) a brief lecture by one or both of the instructors on the day’s text, followed by 2) text-based discussion and debate. Because thoughtful discussion and debate—with each other, with professors, with authors and texts—are essential to the processes of critical analysis, regular attendance and active participation are expected. If you are unable to attend class, for whatever reason, notify your professor before the class begins.

REQUIRED TEXTS (Additional texts are posted on Moodle) • Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, The Figaro Trilogy, trans. David Coward

(Oxford World Classics) • Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, ed. Edwin Curley (Hackett) • Juana Inés de la Cruz, Poems, Protest, and a Dream: Selected Writings (Penguin) • Immanuel Kant, Perpetual Peace and Other Essays, trans. Ted Humphreys (Hackett) • John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. Peter Laslett (Cambridge University

Press) • Martin Luther, The Freedom of a Christian, trans. Timothy Wengert (Fortress Press) • Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. Harvey C. Mansfield (University of Chicago

Press) • Thomas More, Utopia, ed. David Wootton (Hackett) • J. J. Rousseau, A Discourse on Inequality, trans. Maurice Cranston (Penguin) • William Shakespeare, “The Tempest,” ed. Barbara A. Mowat (Folger Library Edition) • Voltaire, Candide, Zadig and Selected Stories, trans. Donald Frame (Mass Market

Paperbacks) • Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, ed. P. Barnard (Hackett)

** Students should purchase only these translations for use in HNRS 2406 Integrative Learning Core and General Education Integrated learning allows students to make simple connections among ideas and experiences and across disciplines and perspectives. The LSU Integrative Learning Core (ILC) curriculum is designed to develop student abilities to transfer their learning to new situations and demonstrate a sense of self as a learner. A fundamental goal of the ILC is to foster students' practical and intellectual capacities associated with integrative learning in preparation for high competence and functionality in their post-baccalaureate careers. This course fulfills the BoR Area of Humanities and Social/Behavioral Sciences and provides students experience with the ILC proficiency of Inquiry and Analysis

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Weekly Readings and Discussion

Week 1 (Jan. 13) The Many Worlds of 1500

S 1: The medieval individual and the world S 2: Finding a ‘new world’ READING: More, Utopia Week 2: (Jan. 20) Utopian Visions S 1: no class, Martin Luther King Day

S 2: Dreaming of a new place READING: More, Utopia Week 3: (Jan. 27) Real Worlds and their Rulers

S 1: Ruling Real Places S 2: The Art of the Polis READING: Machiavelli, The Prince ***FRIDAY, JAN. 31: ESSAY 1 DUE, 4:00 pm*** Week 4: (Feb. 2) Of God and Man

S 1: Of God and Man S 2: Of ‘Other’ Men READING: Luther, Freedom of a Christian; Montaigne, “On

Cannibals” Week 5: (Feb. 9) Of Shakespeare’s New World

S 1: Shakespeare and the World S 2: “The Tempest” READING: Shakespeare, “The Tempest”

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Week 6: (Feb. 16) Seeing New Worlds S 1: Seeing the World in a New Way: The Scientific Revolution S 2: Seeing Other Worlds READING: Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning, book II,

ch. 5-8; Galileo Galilei, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, Ptolemaic and Copernican (excerpts)

Week 7: (Feb. 24) The Terrible, Horrible, Awful Seventeenth Century S 1: no class; Mardi Gras holiday S 2: The Painful Realities of the Seventeenth Century READING: Hobbes, Leviathan, author’s intro., ch. 1-6, 13 Week 8: (Mar. 2) Ruling an Unruly World S 1: Ruling an Unruly World S 2: Midterm exam READING: Hobbes, Leviathan, ch. 14-18, 21 Week 9: (March 9) Individuals versus Absolutists S 1: In the beginning there was….consent S 2: The right to rebellion

READINGS: Locke, Second Treatise (ch. 1-9, 14-19); Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, “Response to Sor Filotea”

***FRIDAY, MARCH 13: ESSAY 2 DUE, 4:00 pm*** Week 10: (March 16) Absolutism’s Tolerances and Intolerances S 1: Absolutism and the Special Individual S 2: Absolutism and Toleration READING: Voltaire, “Zadig” ** SPRING BREAK MARCH 23-27 **

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Week 11: (March 30) The Enlightening World S 1: Absolutism and the World: Mercantilism S 2: The Enlightenment and the Common Man READING: Beaumarchais, “The Marriage of Figaro” Week 12: (April 6) The Wealth of Individuals S 1: The Noble Savage S 2: Property and Inequality READING: J. J. Rousseau, A Discourse on Inequality Week 13 (April 13) The Wealth of Nations S 1: The Enlightenment Overseas S 2: The Wealth of Nations

READING: Encyclopedia (selections); Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations, book 1 (ch. 1-5, 8), book 4 (ch. 1), book 5 (ch. 1, pt. 3, art. 2); Encyclopedia of Diderot & d’Alembert, https://quod.lib.umich.edu/d/did/title/L.html, and read the entries for: "Law of Nature," "Luxury," "Man," "Natural Liberty," "Natural Religion," "Negroes" (read both entries), "Philosophy," and "Reason."

Week 14: (April 20) Natural and Human Rights S 1: The Rights of Man S 2: The Rights of Woman READING: “Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen”;

Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (selections); Olympe de Gouges, “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and Female Citizen”

****FRIDAY, APRIL 24: ESSAY 3 DUE, 4:00 pm*** Week 15: (April 27) Utopian Futures S 1: The Future of the Individual S 2: The Future of the Human Race READING: Kant, “Perpetual Peace”

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Course Assignments: Weekly Quizzes on the Readings (12) 10% 3 Essays (due Jan. 31, Mar. 13, Apr. 24) 30% Class Participation 20% Midterm Exam (W, Mar. 2, during class) 15% Final Exam (Th, May 7, 12:30-2:30 pm) 25%

Grading scale: A+ (98%-100%), A (93%-97%), A- (90%-92%) B+ (88%-90%), B (83%-87%), B- (80%-82%) C+ (78%-80%), C (73%-77%), C- (70%-72%) D+ (68%-70%), D (63%-67%), D- (60%-62%) F (below 60%)

Attendance, Integrity, and Access University education is a great privilege, offered to all with the ability and the willingness to learn, without obstacles based on race, sex, or other aspects of personal identity. Students would be foolish to squander their opportunity by unexcused absence from class or by academic dishonesty. Please consult the following LSU policies: Attendance: PS-22, Student Absence from Class https://www.lsu.edu/policies/ps/ps_22.pdf Integrity: Code of Student Conduct, section 10.1 https://www.lsu.edu/saa/students/codeofconduct.php

Access: Mission, Vision, and Diversity Statement https://www.lsu.edu/diversity/about_us/mission_vision.php

Students who are struggling in the course should first contact the instructors. Should students want additional assistance, they are encouraged to contact the Center for Academic Success.