1
Niccolo Machiavelli These sites explore the life of Machiavelli.
http://sol.brunel.ac.uk/~jarvis/bola/ethics/mach.html and http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/REN/MACHIAV.HTM
Questions for further exploration:
Discuss some of the pragmatic, ethical values espoused by Machiavelli. Why is this pragmatism seen as a major advance toward modern political theory? What does Machiavelli see or regard as essential to the politics of a state that those before him did not? Why does Machiavelli not believe in absolute moral values? According to Machiavelli, what are the goals of government? Are these similar to those offered by the Arthashastra? How can Machiavelli's advice to a Prince be applied in the modern business setting? Identify 3 quotations from the Prince that you might make to a large corporation as business consultant. However, Machiavelli does not always recommend corporate or practical values. He also identifies important allegiances that transcend mere self-interested political power that should be pursued because they are "right" as well as reasonable. What are two of these allegiances in terms of political organization and human liberty? Hint: According to Machiavelli, the purpose of government is to serve and secure whose interests and the liberties?
2
Giotto These sites discuss and illustrate the contributions to the evolution of Western art of the painter Giotto di Bodone.
http://gallery.euroweb.hu/tours/giotto/index.html and http://gallery.euroweb.hu/bio/g/giotto/biograph.html
Questions for further exploration:
How did Giotto’s work represent a break from the past? How did his subject matter, like that of Francesco Petrarch, reach beyond traditional themes?
3
Pieter Bruegel, the Elder This site explores the work of Pieter Bruegel.
http://metalab.unc.edu/wm/paint/auth/bruegel/
Questions for further exploration:
How did Bruegel’s subject matter reflect the humanism of the Renaissance? What human actions and elements of character did he examine that represented a break with the past?
4
Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote This site offers an introduction to the spirit of one of Europe’s first novels.
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/don_quixote.html
Questions for further exploration:
Cervantes sought not to idealize the passing medieval tradition, but to satirize it. How does he accomplish this? How is Sancho Panza, as a figure in a novel, similar to a figure in a painting by Pieter Bruegel, the Elder, in marking the dawn of a new era?
5
The Printing Press and the Changing World This site explores the place of the printing press in history.
http://communication.ucsd.edu/bjones/Books/luther.html
Question for further exploration:
How did the printing press serve the cause of Protestant propaganda?
6
Luther and Science This site offers an essay that suggests that Martin Luther’s critical approach to the teachings of the Church had a positive impact on the advancement of modern science.
http://www.leaderu.com/science/kobe.html
Question for further exploration:
How can Martin Luther’s ideas be said to have served, if not to have stimulated, modern scientific inquiry?
7
Ben Franklin and the Spirit of Scientific Experimentation This site provides the text two letters written by Benjamin Franklin describing experiments conducted with balloons.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/franklin-science.html
Questions for further exploration:
How do Franklin’s letters, even details such as the representation of the balloon on an admission ticket, reflect the spirit of scientific inquiry that came to typify the Scientific Revolution?
8
Daniel DeFoe on the Education of Women This site offers a commentary by Daniel DeFore, who provides proofs of the value of providing for the education of women.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1719defoe-women.html
Questions for further exploration:
Enlightenment thinkers considered human beings as being shaped by experience. Thomas Jefferson argued that if slaves were removed from their condition of servitude, they might well display the same independent qualities of mind that free men thought slaves lacked as a result of their nature. In this context, what is DeFoe’s judgment of those who would deny women education? What is his view of the impact education would have upon women? Would it make them like men? Might it make them smarter than men? What natural spirits did DeFoe think women have that might be improved rather than eliminated by education?
9
The Age of Absolutism These sites discuss the theory and practice of early modern absolutism, with a primary focus on absolutist France under the ‘Sun King” Louis IV.
http://www.snu.edu/syllabi/history/s97projects/absolutism/ , http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/ENLIGHT/ABSOLUTE.HTM , and http://lcweb.loc.gov/exhibits/bnf/bnf0005.html
Questions for further exploration:
What are the characteristics of absolutist rule? How did Louis IV and French painters promote absolutist ideals? What gives absolutism its strength? What were its weaknesses?
10
Versailles This site houses the Chateau Versailles virtual gallery and history museum.
http://www.chateauversailles.fr/en/311.asp
Question for further exploration:
How does the exhibit on a day in the life of the Sun King, Louis IV illuminate the Age of Absolutism in France?
