2025/6 - HIS-6113A The Enlightenment

Autumn Semester, Level 6 module, Credits: UCU 30

Organiser: Dr David Gilks

Assessment Type: Coursework

The Enlightenment was a wide-ranging cultural revolution that predated the famous political revolutions of the late eighteenth century. It was a Europe-wide phenomenon, a diverse movement marking the rise of new mentalities and behaviours. Although most historians agree that the Enlightenment redefined and expanded knowledge, and reformed politics by inventing human rights, its character and legacy remain hotly debated subjects.

This module will introduce students to the Enlightenment and to competing modern interpretations. To provide students with an accessible starting point, the first week will be devoted to reading Voltaire’s Candide, or Optimism (1759) – a short novel that opens in the Holy Empire, takes us around Europe and Latin America, and concludes in the Ottoman Empire. In small groups, students will prepare and deliver group presentations about individuals and places in the novel. We will try to understand – rather than excuse – Voltaire’s racist and sexist language, and his descriptions of violence against humans and animals. In subsequent seminars, we will contextualize, explain, and unpack themes pertinent to Candide, or that arise from the text through their presence or striking absence. Voltaire’s masterpiece will thus provide both foci for interrogation and prompts for original reflections. Assigned readings will include a range of excerpts from both canonical and less widely known Enlightenment writings besides examples of modern scholarship that will help students to understand those primary sources.