# Foundations of Western Culture: The Making of the Modern World

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

###

Some Description
Instructor(s) | Prof.
As Taught In | Spring 2002
Course Number | 2.24
Level | Undergraduate/Graduate
Features | Lecture Notes, Student Work

## Course Description

## Course Features

- Assignments: written with examples

## 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:

- 21L.002-3 Foundations of Western Culture II: Modernism (Spring 2004)

## Related Content

## Course Collections

See related courses in the following collections:

### Find Courses by Topic

- History > Comparative History
- Literature
- Philosophy
- Literature > Comparative Literature

Howard Eiland. 21L.002 Foundations of Western Culture: The Making of the Modern World . Spring 2010. Massachusetts Institute of Technology: MIT OpenCourseWare, https://ocw.mit.edu. License: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA.

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