This second-semester course continues the year-long First-Year Seminar and offers a critical exploration of the intellectual heritage of modernity. Through a close reading of philosophical, political, literary, and artistic texts – from Machiavelli and Rousseau to Marx, Freud, and Fanon – students examine the complex relations between individual and society, authority and subjectivity, reason and history. The course follows the ongoing conversation about knowledge and power, conflict and solidarity, society and identity. Special emphasis is placed on the formation of modern political philosophy, the rise of ideologies, and the tradition of critique that continues to shape how we understand the modern world. The course emphasizes academic writing, argumentation, and discussion skills, while inviting students to consider how foundational texts of modernity resonate with today’s political and personal challenges, especially in the context of displacement, authoritarianism, and social transformation. Each thematic unit connects diverse materials across genres and disciplines to explore central modern questions – about freedom, violence, community, colonialism, and critique.