Still Life with a Curtain. This painting illustrates Cézanne's increasing trend towards terse compression of forms and dynamic tension between geometric figures. (Image courtesy of wikipedia.org.)
Instructor(s)
Dr. Howard Eiland
MIT Course Number
21L.002
As Taught In
Spring 2010
Level
Undergraduate
Course Description
Course Features
Course Description
This course comprises a broad survey of texts, literary and philosophical, which trace the development of the modern world from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century. Intrinsic to this development is the growth of individualism in a world no longer understood to be at the center of the universe. The texts chosen for study exemplify the emergence of a new humanism, at once troubled and dynamic in comparison to the old. The leading theme of this course is thus the question of the difference between the ancient and the modern world. Students who have taken Foundations of Western Culture I will obviously have an advantage in dealing with this question. Classroom discussion approaches this question mainly through consideration of action and characters, voice and form.
Other Versions
Other OCW Versions
OCW has published multiple versions of this subject. 
- 21L.002-2 Foundations of Western Culture II: Renaissance to Modernity (Spring 2003)
- 21L.002 Foundations of Western Culture II (Fall 2002)
Archived versions: 