Browse Items (10 total)

Four white women are playing music in concert with each other, one on flute, one on piano, one on violin, one on cello. They range in age, with the cellist appearing as an old woman, while the other musicians appear youthful. The painting is meant to…

In his book Emile or On Education, Jean-Jacques Rousseau points out the contemporary belief on "quantity over quality:" he emphasizes the importance of experiences and the feeling of existence.

An analysis of the 18th century class system and how Fantomina steps outside the boundaries to fulfill her desire to entertain herself with prostitution.

Microscope made by Johan Joosten van Musschenbroek between 1673-1748. This instrument was the most precise instrument of its time. This is one of 238 instruments produced by the Van Musschenbroek workshop of Leiden in that time period.

Architecture during this time period was really inspired by enlightenment by pushing designs that go against the conventional means of thinking.

A mezzotint portrait of philosopher John Locke, mid-18th century

Our mind and its thoughts are one of the most important things to us

This 1804 painting by Joseph Denis Odevaere depicts the Athenian statesman Phocion watching stoically as his friends die by drinking poison. The condemned Phocion and his friends were sentenced to death and ordered to consume poison, but the poison…

Thomas Hobbes's works, particularly Leviathan, influenced members of the Libertine circles in England, among them the Earl of Rochester and Aphra Behn. In this excerpt from Leviathan, Hobbes presents arguments about the causes of absurdity and…