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Explore the age of anxiety and uncertainty in modern thought through the lens of philosophy in the 20th century. Delve into existentialism, logical empiricism, and the revival of Christianity, shaping intellectual trends during the interwar years.
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Chapter 28The Age of Anxiety Uncertainty in Modern Thought Modern Art and Music Movies and Radio The Search for Peace and Political Stability The Great Depression, 1929-1939
Most people believed in progress, reason, individual rights – rational human mind & science – 1880s-1920s 1880s thru 1920s some serious thinkers and artists: optimist thinking of times WWI influenced intellectuals who believed mankind = violent, irrational animals French poet & critic Paul Valery expressed this uncertainty in work – saw Europe looking at future w/ dark foreboding Uncertainty in Modern Thought
Modern Philosophy • Freidrich Nietzsche= rejected Christianity – argued West overemphasized rationality & stifled passion/animal instinct that drive creativity; Most famous line = God is dead, murdered by Christians who no longer believe in him • Henri Bergson= believed immediate experience/intuition as important as rational/scientific thinking for understanding reality • Georges Sorel= rejected democracy & said socialism would come to power through a huge general strike of all working people – this would shatter capitalism
Logical empiricism rejected most traditional philosophy – from existence of God to meaning of happiness. Ludwig Wittgenstein argued in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in 1922 that philosophy = logical clarification of thoughts; so it is study of language (which expresses thoughts) Great issues of ages: God, freedom, morality = waste of time since it cannot be tested by science/math. Statements only reflect personal preferences & opinions. “Of what one cannot speak, of that one must keep silent.” Logical Empiricism
Existentialism = analysis of existence; meaning of life is through free will, choice & personal responsibility Most existentialists were atheists; Influenced by shattering of beliefs in God, reason, & progress (WWI) Jean Paul Sartre –Being and Nothingness (1943), Existentialism is a Humanism (1945) believed individuals must give meaning to life through actions Albert Camus refused the label of existentialist but is linked w/ this mode of thought. Wrote essay –The Rebel, & a novel, The Stranger. Camus believed in Socialism, against marriage, won Nobel peace prize for his writings against capital punishment Existentialism
Post WWI thinkers/theologians tried to revitalize fundamentals of Christianity Believed humans = sinful, imperfect & need God’s forgiveness Leading Christian existentialists = Soren Kierkegaard (19th cent) who rejected formalistic religion & committed to remote/majestic God Karl Barth – sought to re-create religious intensity of Reformation. Religious truth is made through God’s grace The Revival of Christianity
Progressive minds accepted Darwinian concept of evolution and believed science based on hard facts & controlled experiments New physics believed atoms = fast moving particles (electrons & protons) Marie Curie– radium emits sub-atomic particles & does not have constant atomic weight Max Planck– showed in 1900 that subatomic energy is emitted in uneven spurts (quanta) & not steady stream Albert Einsteinundermined Newtonian physics further w/ idea that time & space = relative to viewpoint of observer & only speed of light is constant; theory of special relativity The New Physics
Freudian Psychology • Sigmund Freud – human behavior = irrational. • Key to understanding mind is primitive irrational unconscious called the id – which is driven by pleasure seeking desires • The idis constantly at battle with other parts of mind. The rationalizing conscious part is ego. • The egomediates what a person can do, while the superego,is driven by what a person should do (deeply ingrained moral values)
Cultural & Intellectual Trends in the Interwar Years • Prewar avant-garde culture becomes acceptable • Political, economic, and social insecurities • Radical changes in women’s styles
Twentieth-Century Literature • Intellectual climate of pessimism, relativism, & alienation also expressed in literature • Novelists used stream of consciousness technique to explore psyche (Virginia Wolf, James Joyce) • Writers such as Marcel Proust, James Joyce, & William Faulkner wrote about complexity & irrationality of human mind
Modernism in the Arts: Impressionism • Artist captures the image of an object as someone would see it if they just caught a glimpse of it • Lots of color and outdoor scenes • Pictures are very bright and vibrant • Images without detail but with bold colors • Example artists: Manet, Pissaro, Degas, Monet, Morisot and Renoir. • Morisot, Summer’s Day, 1879. • Pissarro, The Boulevard Montmartre at Night 1897.
Modernism in the Arts: Post-Impressionism • Light and color with structure and form • Post-Impressionists rejected the emphasis the Impressionists put on naturalism and the depiction of fleeting effects of light. • Post-Impressionist artists differ greatly from one another, and painted alone, unlike the community of Impressionist painters • Artists include van Gogh, Seurat (pointillism), Cezanne, Gauguin, Toulouse-Latrec Van Gogh’s The Starry Night, 1889 and Seurat’s Bathing at Ausnieres, 1883
Modernism in the Arts: Expressionism • Depict not objective reality but rather subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in the artist • Distortion, exaggeration and fantasy as well as the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements define the style • Artists include Munch and Chagall Munch’s The Scream and Chagall’s Birthday
Welcome back!! • Bell Ringer: by reviewing emerging thought in philosophy, science, and religion what are some themes that reflect Post World War I society? • Agenda and Objective: Through note review, students will identify major themes in art during the interwar period as well as societal transformations in Europe during the 1920s
Art and Entertainment • Cubism concentrated on a complex geometry of zigzagging lines and sharply angled, overlapping planes Guernica (1937)
Pablo Picasso: “Les Desmoiselles des Avignons” Cubism, 1907
Pablo Picasso: “Portrait of Monsieur Vollard,” Cubism, 1910
Non-representative Art • Dadaism: "Dada" was a nonsensical word that mirrored a post-WWI world that no longer made sense. • Attacked all accepted standards of art and behavior, delighting in outrageous conduct Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp, “Fountain,” Dada, 1917
Marcel Duchamp, “Nude Descending A Staircase,” Cubism, 1912
Surrealism • influenced by Freud's emphasis on dreams Dali’s The Persistence of Memory
Dali: Soft Construction with Boiled Beans: Premonition of Civil War (1936)
Movies • Moving pictures were first shown as a popular novelty in peepshows and penny arcades in the 1890s, especially in Paris. • Motion pictures became the main entertainment of the masses until after WWII. • Motion pictures, like radio, became powerful tools of indoctrination, esp. in countries with dictatorial regimes.
Stravinsky debuted the The Rite of Spring Ballet at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris on May 29, 1913, to an audience accustomed to the grace, elegance, and traditional music of "conventional" ballets, i.e. Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Opposition to Stravinsky's work literally happened within the first few minutes of the piece as members of the audience booed loudly in response to the inharmonic notes accompanying the unrecognizable bassoon's opening solo. What's more, the work's unconventional music, sharp and unnatural choreography (dancers danced with bent arms and legs and would land on the floor so hard their internal organs would shake), and Russian pagan setting, failed to win over the majority of the audience. As the ballet progressed, so did the audience's discomfort. Those in favor of Stravinksy's work argued with those in opposition. The arguments eventually turned to brawls and police had to be notified. They arrived at intermission and successfully calmed the angry crowd (yes, the show wasn't even half way over before people were throwing punches). As the second half commenced, police were unable to keep the audience under control and rioting resumed. Stravinsky was so taken aback by the audience's reaction, he fled the scene before the show was over.
DEMOCRACIES IN THE 1920S • (Review of your Study Guide)
An Uncertain Peace: The Search for Security • Shortcomings of Versailles Treaty and German dissatisfaction • Weaknesses of the League of Nations • French search for security: GB/US isolationism and the “Little Entente” • Allied Reparations Commission, April 1921: $33 billion • Paid in annual installments of billion gold marks • Germany unable to pay in 1922 • French occupation of the Ruhr Valley
The Hopeful Years: 1924-29 • German mark falls to 4.2 trillion to $1, end of November 1923 • Dawes Plan– $200 million loan & sympathy for Germany • Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929) and German cooperation • Treaty of Locarno, 1925 guarantees Germany’s western borders with France and Belgium. East? • Germany joins League of Nations • Kellogg-Briand Pact: NO MORE WAR! • (Unsuccessful) push for disarmament • Improved relations with Soviet Russia • London Naval Conference (1930)
I. Weimar Republic • The Social Democratic Party (S.P.D.) took control of the government on November 9, 1918 • Fear of communist revolutions throughout the country prompted Party Leader Philip Scheidemann to proclaim an republic, but without official consent from any other parties.
Threats from the Left • Germany’s lack of experience with democratic traditions made the Weimar’s hold on power tenuous • The Weimar Republic had to rely on conservative military groups to save it from communist outbreaks throughout the country • The gov’t was given support by the military provided that the gov’t maintain discipline in the army and root out Bolshevism • In effect, the Weimar gov’t became a prisoner of the German army • Freikorps vs. Spartacists
Treaty of Versailles, 1919 • To Germans of all political parties, the Versailles Treaty represented a harsh, dictated peace, to be revised or repudiated as soon as possible. • France was eager to punish Germany (but even more eager to ensure its future security against German aggression) • England believed a healthy German economy was essential to a healthy British economy (John Maynard KeynesEconomic Consequences of the Peace, 1919) • Conservatives, including influential military elements, saw the signing of the treaty as a “stab in the back” or the “diktat”—the “dictated peace”
New Constitution created in August 1919 • Reichsrat: upper chamber represented the Federal states. • Reichstag: lower house elected by universal suffrage; supplied the Chancellor and Cabinet. • President elected for a 7-year term. • Female suffrage granted • Kapp Putsch, 1920 • Ruhr Crisis, 1923 • Beer Hall Putsch, 1923 • Dawes Plan, 1924
rejoined the world community of nations • Locarno Pact, 1925: Germany and other European nations agreed to settle all disagreements peacefully. • Germany allowed to join League of Nations in 1926 • Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928: Renounced war as "illegal" except for self-defense; signed by 62 nations but had no real enforcement mechanism
II. France: economic problems • Challenges were similar to those in Germany • Death, devastation, and debt of WWI created economic chaos and political unrest • Throughout the 1920s, the government’s multi-party system was dominated by parties on the right (conservatives) - Supported status quo and had backing of business, army, and Church
III. Great Britain • Wartime trend toward greater social equality continued, helping maintain social harmony. • Representation of the Peoples Act (1928): women over 21 gained the right to vote. • Yet, the concentration of wealth in Britain was more geared towards the top than any other European country • Top 1% owned 2/3 of the national wealth
Growth of social welfare • Labourparty rose as a champion of the working classes and of greater social equality • Conservatives regained power by framing the Labour party as pro-communist when it officially recognized the Soviet Union • Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947) ruled Britain between 1924 and 1929. Was a conservative • Showed the same compromising spirit on social issues: female suffrage, expanded pensions to widows, orphans and the elderly.
The Irish Question • After Easter Rebellion (1916) the extremist Sinn Fein faction gained prominence in Ireland. • Prompted a civil war between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Black and Tan, England’s special occupation forces there. • October 1921, London created the Irish Free State, from which Ulster withdrew, as part of the British Commonwealth (Northern Ireland) • In 1922, Britain granted southern, Catholic Ireland full autonomy after failing to suppress a bitter guerrilla war.
Attempted remedies • New Deal- “Keynesian approach” • Scandinavia's response to depression was most successful under its socialist gov't • British recovery • abandoned gold-standard, reorganized industry, increased tariffs, reformed finances, cut gov’t spending, balanced budget (although unemployed workers received barely enough welfare to live on) • Economy recovered considerably after 1932.
With France… • Impact of the depression didn’t occur immediately as France wasn't as highly industrialized as Britain, Germany & the US • The depression increased class tensions and gave birth to a radical right that supported gov’t reorganization along fascist lines. • Popular Front: Threat of fascism prompted coalition of republicans, socialists, communists and radicals • Popular Front led by Leon Blúm • “French New Deal” failed • France remained politically divided as Germany continued its rearmament in late 1930s
Bell Ringer: With your study guide and Handout notes (Political experiments) • 1. What are the similarities and differences between the postwar govts./economies of Great Britain, France, and Weimar Germany? • 2. Give examples of how Germany is brought back to the world stage.
Agenda and Objective: • Through readings and discussions students • 1. Will identify causes for the down fall of the Weimar Republic • 2. Define the concept of Totalitarianism and give examples • 3. Define Fascism and give examples
The Great Depression (1929-1933) • Long-term problems within the U.S. economy • Overproduction of agriculture in Europe • Stock Market Crash • Hawley-Smoot Tariff • bankers began recalling loans made to Germany and other European countries • Impact on Europe • Shattered the fragile optimism of political leaders in the late 1920s • Decline of production occurred in every country (except Russia with its command economy). • Mass unemployment resulted: Germany hit hardest (43%); Britain 18%, U.S. 25%
Reading… • Read the background of the rise and fall of the Weimar Republic. • Answer the questions provided and be prepared to discuss. • What is Totalitarianism? Fascism?
