Rousseau's Social Contract

Here is a link to Rousseau's Social Contract and here is a link to the Discourse on Inequality.

Prep for The Age of Enlightenment

Please read the following sections in Chapter Five and answer the corresponding questions.

Sections: The Impact of Scientific Thought and The Spread of New Knowledge, pages 105-110. Take notes and read the entry for "Philosopher" from the Encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alembert found through the "browse" option. The link for this text is found below and do not worry about understanding all the concepts and words in the entry, but read it so that you may gain some insight into how the philosophes saw themselves.

Section: Ideas that Changed the World, pages 110-118.
Take notes and compare and contrast the ideas and beliefs of the three main thinkers: Montesquieu, Voltaire, and Rousseau. (You may wish to do this is chart form.) You may also wish to consider the question - "Can ideas really change the world?"

Section: Enlightened Despotism, pages 118-124.
Take notes and answer the question: "What did it mean to be an enlightened despot?"

The image is a photograph of the cover of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, a translation of which may be found through this link.

Encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alembert

Here is a link to the Encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alembert. It was written during the Enlightenment and provides an interesting view into the minds and ideas of the time. It is fully searchable using a variety of methods.

Welcome to IB History in A207

This will be a blog about and for the IB history course taught in room A207. You will find accounts of what we have studied as well as links to useful resources at the school and on the web.