Foundations of Western Culture II
MIT's survey course traces the rise of secular humanism through literary, philosophical, and political texts spanning five centuries. Readings cluster around three historical moments: the Renaissance encounter between Europe and the Americas (Machiavelli, Cortes, Sahagun), the European age of revolutions (Voltaire, Blake, Williams), and the American Civil War and abolition (Stowe, Whitman, Lincoln), with twentieth-century poetry by Lowell and Walcott and fiction by Ondaatje and Orson Scott Card rounding out the syllabus. The course examines shifting ideas of individual, social, and communal purpose, and how war, reconciliation, and memory get represented across genres from oratory to science fiction. Materials include the full reading list and assignment structure from MIT's curriculum, offered free through MIT OpenCourseWare with no certificate attached. Enrollment in the original course was limited and it counted toward MIT's humanities requirement.