Both the enlightenment and romanticism perspectives have some aspects that one can agree with. Making decisions with rationality allows men to have a clear understanding of the consequences that words and actions can have on the everyday life and in a near future, it is important that one uses reason to be able to survive in such a complex and ever evolving society. However, giving the appropriate importance to ones emotions and the nature that surrounds us is also important as it is what ultimately motivates and drives our existence. The enlightenment relies on reason to plan out successful and effective outcomes, while romanticism relies on individuality to ensure peace and happiness which are both important and agreeable perspectives. 

Compared to other humanities classes, the emphasis on enlightenment and romanticism has had an interesting impact in the way I view our contemporary society. The readings were always able to get the audience engaged as one would often correlate the content to current events all around the world or even our personal lives. For instance, one may not be able to understand what the mentality of suicidal individuals are like, Goethe’s story about Werther allows the audience to go in depth and really understand the situational factors and challenges that unfortunately many people face in our society.   

I think the most interesting takeaway from this class is allowing the content to resonate with ourselves and our surroundings and being able to have a self reflection in which we analyze the logic behind our everyday lives. Perhaps you find yourself being too carried away by emotions and not paying much attention to obvious logical explanations around you, or the other way around trying to find evidence for everything when sometimes you have to listen to your heart and not worry about repercussions.