APUS LITR220 Week 3 Forum latest 2016 March

Part 1: Some of the more characteristic doctrines of the Enlightenment focused on the power and goodness of human rationality:

1) Reason is the most significant and positive capacity of the human;
2) reason enables one to break free from primitive, dogmatic, and superstitious beliefs holding one in the bonds of irrationality and ignorance;
3) in realizing the liberating potential of reason, one not only learns to think correctly, but to act correctly as well;
4) through philosophical and scientific progress, reason can lead humanity as a whole to a state of earthly perfection;
5) reason makes all humans equal and, therefore, deserving of equal liberty and treatment before the law;
6) beliefs of any sort should be accepted only on the basis of reason, and not on traditional or priestly authority; and
7) all human endeavors should seek to impart and develop knowledge, not feelings or character. (pbs.com)

Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Thomas Jefferson embodied the Age of Enlightenment. Use your choice of three of the seven doctrines to explain and prove these author's philosophies. Make sure you draw on our readings to support your choices. Next, consider and discuss how these doctrines have been advanced, tested, and revised as the nation has grown and evolved.

Part II: Briefly describe several, meaning more than two, of the conditions of the slave ship as experienced by Olaudah Equiano and related in his narrative. Compare his narrative to that of Phillis Wheatley's experience. You must use selected quotes from each, but then interpret, in your own words, what the quotes mean and what their impact is on the reader.

Submission Instructions:

Your initial discussion should be at least 200 words. It must include MLA citations – both in-text and an end citation. Please also respond to a minimum of two of your classmates' initial posts and bring together pieces of the discussion and take those ideas further. These responses should be at least 150 words.

As you may know from the attached rubric, students are expected to post on three separate days each week for average credit. During the week, read the messages posted by your instructor and classmates and join the discussion. Your instructor may ask questions, provide explanations, and include links to other resources. To earn a higher grade on each week's discussion, students are expected to post more frequently. To sum up: posting three times in a week will earn a grade of a C. Four posts of high quality according to the rubric will earn a B, and five high quality posts according to the rubric earn an A. Again, please check the rubric for details on this.Remember, the Forums are our place for classroom discussion.