Unit 2 - Chapter 7 - Romanticism & Existentialism Flashcards
Enlightenment
age of reason
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
father of romanticism.
Describe Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s views with respect to feelings versus reason
- distrusted reason
- best guide for human conduct is honest feelings
Describe Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s views with respect to the noble savage
a noble savage is a human not contaminated by society
Describe Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s views with respect to the general will
humans can be governed and still remain as free as possible through general will –> tendency to act in ways beneficial to the community.
Describe Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s views with respect to education.
education should;
- take advantage of natural impulses.
- be responsive to each particular students needs.
Describe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s philosophy regarding the role of opposite forces in one’s life
- humans torn by conflicts of opposing forces.
- goal of life = to embrace forces & transform from being unfulfilled to fulfilled.
Describe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s philosophy regarding phenomenology.
the study of whole, meaningful experiences.
ex: color-contrast effect (Goethe’s shadow)
Summarize Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s contributions to the development of psychology.
showed sensory experiences can be objectively studied using introspection
Describe Arthur Schopenhauer’s views regarding will to survive
will to survive causes an unending cycle of needs
- fully satisfied needs = pleasure and boredeom.
- unsatisfied needs = pain, desire.
Describe Arthur Schopenhauer’s views regarding the relationship between intelligence and happiness
- intelligent humans suffer the most & seek solitude
- plants suffer no pain, lower species animals suffer a bit.
Why do highly intelligent people seek solitude?
1) allows them to be alone with thoughts.
2) prevents dealing with intellectually inferior people.
Describe Arthur Schopenhauer’s views regarding the roles of sublimation and denial
can relieve the irrational force within us by doing activities that are not need-related.
Describe Arthur Schopenhauer’s views regarding unconscious mind.
consciousness is surface of our mind, we do not know interior.
Describe the following aspects of Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophy the nature of religious experience
“leap of faith” is ultimate state of being, which is embracing God solely on faith
Describe the following aspects of Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophy: the subjective nature of truth
facts and logic create paradoxes
subjectivity is truth.
Describe the following aspects of Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophy: love in religious experience
individual relationship with God is like a love affair; passionate, happy, and painful.
Describe the following aspects of Søren Kierkegaard’s philosophy: the stages of personal freedom.
aesthetic stage –> ethical stage –> religious stage
Aesthetic stage
people seek out many forms of pleasure and excitement –> leads to boredom and despair.
no recognition of freedom of choice.
Ethical stage
people accept the responsibility of making choices & use ethical principles established by others.
Religious stage
people accept their responsibility and enter into a personal relationship with God.
Highest level of existence.
Describe Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s positions with respect to (a) the Apollonian and Dionysian sides of human nature
two major aspects of human nature;
1) Apollonian: rational side - tranquility, predictability, and orderliness.
2) Dionysian: irrational side - creative chaos, passionate, dynamic experiences.
Describe Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s positions with respect to psychology
focus on helping individuals gain control of their powerful, irrational impulses
Best art and literature represents a fusion of _______ tendencies.
Apollonian and Dionysian
Major goal of Nietzche was to
resurrect the Dionysian spirit.
Describe Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s positions with respect to the death of God.
announced that God was dead and that the philosophers and scientists of his day had killed him.
Perspectivism
Nietzsche’s contention that there are no universal truths, only individual perspectives.
Describe Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s positions with respect to opinions versus convictions
convictions: correspond to some absolute truth.
- reflect certainty.
opinions are challengeable and easily modified.
- reflect probability.
- perspectivism
Describe Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s positions with respect to will to power
the basic human motive for behaviour.
Describe Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche’s positions with respect to the concept of supermen.
supermen = people approaching their full potential
- involves self-improvement, risk, not governed by standard morality
Describe the extent to which misinterpretations of Nietzsche’s concept of supermen have taken place
was embraced by the Nazis who claimed that the German people were the superior men.
Compare Kierkegaard and Nietzsche’s existential philosophies.
both rejected what was conventionally accepted, preached reliance on direct experience, and alienated almost everyone.
Contrast Kierkegaard and Nietzsche’s existential philosophies.
kierkegaard accepted the existence of God.
for Nietzsche God did not exist.
Compare existentialism with romanticism.
emphasize human existence & free will
the importance of subjective experience & individuality
a distrust of the grandiose theories of human nature
Contrast existentialism with romanticism.
existentialism
- stress uniqueness of each person
romanticism
- study total person
