6.7 Flashcards
Science and Society before 1914
-people stilled believed the ideas of scientific revolution and enlightenment –> REASON (shown in products of modern technology showed how using reason we can understand the universe) , SCIENCE, PROGRESS (rising standard of living, mass education, urban reforms show how we can improve society)
People’s ideas of Science before 1890s
- science gave certainty and order, unlike religion that no longer had meaning
- many thought that science would give humanity a complete understanding the world
The Emergence of New Physics
- Isaac Newton’s ideas were very popular
- however, Marie Curie and Einstein questioned him
Isaac Newton
- believed the world is a giant machine
- matter was composed of indivisible solid MATERIAL bodies called atoms
- space, time, and matter were objective realities that existed independently of the people observing them
Marie Curie
- she discovered that atoms were not MATERIAL bodies, but small worlds containing subatomic particles where electrons and protons behave
- she got this idea after discovering an element gave off radiation that came from within the atom
Einstein, theory of relativity
- space and time are not absolute
- time and space disappear together with things
- matter and energy related the relativity of time and space (matter is a form of energy)
- -E=mc squared shows the vast energies contained within the atom
Other people’s views compared to theory of relativity
- space and time are absolute
- if material things disappeared out of the universe, only space and time would be left
Friedrich Nietzsche
- the western world is focused too much on rational/reason, that is why its messed up
- we should focus on irrational (emotion, passion, instincts)
- he claimed christianity for the emphasis on reason
- we can renew society by 1. killing god 2. creating a higher kind of being called the superman
- he didn’t like political democracy, social reform, and universal suffrage
Sigmund Freud
- his theories undermined the optimism about rational nature of human mind
- his ideas added to the uncertainties of the age
- his ideas gave foundation to PSYCHOANALYSIS
Freud’s Role of the Unconscious
- he believed that behavior was determined by unconscious
- through the process of repression, unsettling experiences were pushed away from the conscious, but still influenced behavior because they became part of the unconscious
- the process of repression is explained through id, ego, and superego
- psychoanalysis was accomplished by the psychotherapist going deep into the memory of the patient and find the original of repression
Id
- center of unconscious drives
- pleasure principle
- people directed energy toward pleasure and away from pain
ego
- seat of reason
- reality principle
- people rejected pleasure so that they might live together in society
Superego
- place of conscious
- inhibitions and moral values of society
- it forces the go to curb the unsatisfactory drives of id
Social Darwinism
- the application of darwin’s principle of organic evolution to the social order
- free competition was natural selection in action (best companies make profits and others go bankrupt)
- wealthy business and industrial leaders used this to justify their success and oppose social welfare programs
- they used it with races and nations (imperialism, racism, militarism)
Darwinism applied to Nationalists
-many argued that nations were engaged in struggle for existence in which only the fittest survived
Darwinism applied to Racism
-they believed that German were the pure successors and had to fight for western civilization and save from lower races
The Attack on Christianity
- growth of scientific thought + modernization + industrialization + urbanization brought new challenges
- urbanization = with people no longer in the countryside where churches were the center, churches were excluded in cities
- political movements also threatened them = government put strict control over church organizations
- after revolutions of 1848, they looked to the church for order
- however multiple events caused anticlericalism
Anticlericalism
- the government began to ignore the church (in education, teachings being outlawed)
- as a result, church and state were separated
- also SCIENCE had an effect= darwin’s ideas were being accepted and the church forbid the teaching of this, causing more people to hate them
- also people began to critique the Bible (historical accuracy)
Responses of the Churches
- they rejected these modern ideas = maintaining literal interpretation, Syllabus of Errors
- Modernism = an attempt by churches to reinterpret Christianity in light of new developments by encouraging social reforms and insisting church provide sense of community
- they compromised = Pope Leo/ De Rerum novarum
- some made efforts to win support for christianity among working class poor and restore religious practices among working class = salvation army
Syllabus of Errors
- Pope Pius created it
- condemn nationalism, socialism, religious toleration, freedom of speech and press
Pope Leo/ De Rerum novarum
- he accepted darwin’s ideas a hypothesis
- responded to challenges of modernization
- in D.R.N. he said yes to private property, but didn’t like how capitalism caused poverty and degradation in working class
- in D.R.N. he said socialism was mostly in Christian principle, but didn’t like Marxist socialism
Literature before 1914
- they rejected traditional literary and artistic styles that dominated europe since the renaissance
- ever since then, these changes have been called modernism
Art before 1914
-represent reality as accurately as possibly
-represent reality as accurately as possibly
- romantics were attracted to exotic and primitive culture that sparked a fascination with folk music
- musicians were looking for ways to express their national identities
Naturalism
- they accepted material world as real and felt that literature should be realistic
- they weren’t optimistic
- Emile Zola, Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Emile Zola
- example of naturalism
- he showed how alcoholism and different environments affected people’s lives
- ”the artist must analyze and dissect life” = Rougon-Macquart, a book about the history of family
Leo Tolstoy
example of naturalism
-War and peace= was realistic in descriptions, shows a fatalistic (excepting that everything will die) view of history
Fyodor Dostoevsky
- example of naturalism
- Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov
- he said we must incorporate our spirit (no reason!)
- only through suffering and faith could be the human soul be purified
Symbolism in Literature
- they believed an objective knowledge of the world was impossible
- they believed art should function FOR ITS OWN SAKE instead of serving, critiquing, or seeking to understand society = their poetry was difficult to understand
Modernism in Literature
-Naturalism and Symbolism
Modernism in Arts
-impressionism, post-impressionism, the search for individual expression
Pissarro
- example of impressionism
- ”Don’t proceed according to rules and principles, but paint what you observe and feel”
Monet
- example of impressionism
- was enchanted with water
- Impression, Sunrise (in book)
Morisot
- example of impressionism
- she was a women
- she thought women had a special vision
- Young Girl by the Window (in the book)
impressionism
- emphasized color and light
- had sense of realism, objective reality, captured a moment in time; slice of life
- they painted figures from daily life (parisian bourgeoisie) and nature
- emphasized light and color
- Pissarro, Monet, Morisot
post-impressionism
- emphasized color and light BUT started to pay more attention to structure and form
- wanted to express inner feelings and produce personal statement of reality
- subjective reality (putting their own twist on it) (no longer depicting external world)
- Cezanne, Van Gogh
Cezanne
- wanted to express visually the underlying geometric structure and form of everyhing
- Mont Sainte-Victoire (in book)
Vincent Van Gogh
- use color as a form of language!
- paint what you feel!
- The Starry Night (in the book)
The search for individual expression
- people were not sure what reality was with psychology and new physics
- then with PHOTOGRAPHY, people wondered what was the point of an artist doing what the camera did better
- then they realized that artists could create reality and therefore INDIVIDUAL CONSCIOUSNESS became the source of meaning
- Picasso, Kandinsky
Impact of photography
- people wondered what was the point of an artist doing what the camera did better
- also it challenged how artists traditionally portrayed people and places
Picasso
- used CUBISM
- les Demoiselles d’Avignon (in the book)
- demonstrates modernists interest in ugly underside of real life
- exhibits lack of harmony and proportion
Cubism
- used geometric designs as visual stimuli to recreate reality in the viewers mind
- presented multiple views of same object
- fragmented forms into flat, jagged shapes
- portrayed flat, two dimensional without traditional linear perspective
Kandinsky
- he wanted to avoid representation and art should speak to the soul (no reference to reality)
- started ABSTRACT PAINTING
Modernism in Music
- new flames of nationalistic spirit
- there was the impressionist music and musical primitivism
- Grieg, Debussy, Stravinsky
Grieg
- nationalism shown in music
- he paved the way to creation of national music style in Norway
- Peer Gynt Suite
Impressionist Music
- elusive moods, haunting seasnations
- Debussy
Debussy
- Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun= recreate in sound the feeling of the poem
- inspired by visual arts
Musical primitivism
- they imitated primitive forms in an attempt to express less refined and genuine feelings
- Igor Stravinsky
Stravinsky
- revolutionized the world of music with a series of ballets
- songs based on Russian folk tales
- one song proved to be a revolutionary piece in the development of music
- was seeking a new understanding of irrational forces