Chapter 24

1. Chapter 24 The Birth of Modern European Thought

2. Advances in Reading and Primary Education • Late 1800’s mass reading public drawn to print culture • 1900 > 85% literacy rates in Britain, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, and Scandinavia • Far lesser rates in Italy, Spain, Russia, Austria-Hungary and the Balkans > 30 to 60 percent • Liberals & Conservatives call for more primary education in the basic skills of reading and writing • Why? • Smarter Voters • Productive labor force • Major employment are for women? • Teaching

3. Reading Material • Number of newspapers, books, magazines, mail-order catalogs, and libraries grow rapidly • Sometimes the publications were mediocre catering to sensational crimes, political scandal, etc. • Still new reading materials led to a popularization of knowledge • Literacy leads to new skills and other knowledge

4. Science at Midcentury • 1850 • Scientists continued to believe that nature operates as a vast machine according to mechanical principles • Experiment and observations revealed natural laws • “scientist” coined 1830’s • Commonly used in 1850 and on

5. Auguste Comte • Developed positivism - a philosophy of human intellectual development based on science • Wrote The Positive Philosophy in which he argued human thought has three stages? • (1) theological – physical nature explained by divinity • (2) metaphysical – abstract principles explained by operative agencies of nature • (3) positive – explanations of nature become matters of exact description of phenomena • Most known as • “father” of modern sociology • Social behavior could be discovered by the same laws as physical nature

6. Charles Darwin • In On the Origin of Species formulates principle of natural selection which explained how species evolved over time • He did not originate the concept of evolution • Together with Alfred Russel Wallace comes up with natural selection – principle of survival of the fittest? • Explained how evolution could occur w/ concept of natural selection • How did account for the variations that increase chance of survival? • Big question emanating from this concept of natural selection • Theory undermines deistic argument for the existence of God • In Descent of Man, applies principle of evolution to humanbeings • Human nature developed naturally over the need for survival • His ideas extremely controversial in late 1800’s • Evolution by way of natural selection not accepted until 1920-30’s with introduction of genetics

10. Science and Ethics • Herbert Spencer • British philosopher who believed in Social Darwinism • Society progresses through competition where the strong defeat the weak • “might makes right” • Thomas Henry Huxley • Strongly supported Darwin, but opposed Spencer • Declared the physical process of evolution was at odds with human ethical development • Struggle in nature only showed how human beings should not behave Spencer vs Huxley

11. Christianity Under Siege • 19th Century > most difficult period for the Christian Church • Intellectuals attacked • Historical accuracy • David Strauss > questions whether the Bible provides any genuine historical evidence about Jesus, story arose from conditions arising from first century Palestine • Others compare story to Homer’s epic poems > stories written by normal human beings during a primitive time period • Science • Earth older than biblical records • Natural causes for disasters (earthquakes, floods) > not hand of God • Darwin theory’s cast doubt on Creation • Religious sentiment seen as natural phenomena • Morality • Attacked Old Testament’s God cruelty and unpredictability • Attacked New Testament’s God for sacrificing the only perfect being to walk on earth • Friedrich Nietzsche > Christianity glorified weakness rather than strength needed to survive • Christianity loses grip in cities especially > Why?

12. Conflict Between Church and State • Main area of conflict? • Education > specifically religious education in secular schools • Great Britain • Churches opposed improvements in govt. schools because it raised the costs of church schools • Solution > Education Act of 1902 – provided state support for religious and non-religious schools while imposing the same standards • France • Conflict more intense • Who taught in public schools? • Priests > gave religious education • Change • Public schools expanded, religious teachings replaced by civic training and Napoleonic Concordat terminated thus separating church and state

13. Conflict Between Church and State Cont. • Germany • Most extreme conflict • Church granted freedoms in Constitution • Bismarck felt Church threatened unity • Education secularized in 1870-1871 • Just the beginning • “May Laws” of 1873 – require priests to be educated in German schools and pass state examinations (just Prussia) • Importance? • Church power transferred to the State • Bismarck’s Kulturkampf ? • “cultural struggle” against Catholic Church > fails • Provokes Catholic resentment against the German state • Was one of Bismarck’s biggest blunders

14. Kloster gesetz – enter into law Internirt – imprisonment Interdict - excommunication Encyclical – official statement by Pope Syllabus of Errors – Church against science, politics, & philosophy

15. Areas of Religious Revival • Late 1800’s > period of hardship for Church • Church revivals occur in Britain, Ireland, & France • Church during this period gave more attention to who? • Urban poor • Last great effort to Christianize Europe (Late 1800s) • Failed? • Population outstripped church resources

16. Late 19th Century and the Roman Catholic Church • Christian revival seen in the resilience of the Pope • Pope Pius IX • After Italian unification launches counteroffensive against liberalism • Syllabus of Errors – setting Catholic Church against science, philosophy and politics • His Vatican Council creates dogma of • Papal infallibility • Pope is incapable of error on the issues of faith and morals • Pope replaces spiritual authority with it’s lost political and temporal power • Pope Leo XIII • Pius successor, moderate who defended religious education and religious control of marriage, but also wanted a corporate society based on moral religious principles rather than socialist or capitalist ideals • Pius X • Rejected modernism and required all priests to take an anti-Modernist oath • Theme > Catholicism fighting against modern thought

17. Late 19th Century and Islam • Islam receives same treatment as Christianity & Judaism • Seen as a product of a particular culture • Anti-Islamic thought emerges > Islamic countries incapable of becoming modern • Europeans championed the superiority of the white race and Christianity • Missionaries attack Islam • Arab world seen as backward because of Islam • Couldn’t convert Muslims why? • Adjuring Islam > Death • Islamic resistance • Salafi movement along with some Islamic leaders want to modernize Islam, but reject Western principles • It’s effects are still felt today

18. Toward a 20th Century Frame of Mind • Western thought changes from 1875 into early 1900’s • Physical reality, human nature, and society being portrayed differently • New concepts challenged old methods

19. Revolution in Physics • Few scientists believed they could portray the “truth” about physical reality, instead offering hypothesis or symbolic models of nature • X-rays and radiation – major steps in the study of the atom and radioactive materials • World of atom > new area of human exploration • Max Planck ? • Quantum theory of energy – energy is a series of discrete quantities rather than a continuous stream • Albert Einstein? • Theory of relativity – time and space do not exist separately, but rather as a combined continuum • Werner Heisenberg ? • Uncertainty principle – behavior of subatomic particles is a matter of statistical probability rather than of exactly determinable cause and effect • Scientists (largest group) to gain financial support of govt. to pursue their research • Related their work to economic progress, military security, & health of their nations

20. Realist &Naturalist Literature of Early 20th Century • Realist and Naturalistic writers will confront harsh realities of life • Realism? • Opposed romanticism (life as we would have it) • Depict life as it actually is • Often showed dreary and unseemly side of life without being certain whether a better life was possible • Many saw society itself as perpetuating evil • Naturalism? • Goes hand in hand with realism • Want to study and understand the laws that lay behind the forces that govern human lives • More accurate picture of life than realism • Humans – higher order animal – affected by environment and heredity • Realists dissected the “real” world, in return they helped change the moral perception of the good life • Forced the public to face reality

21. Realist writers • Gustave Flaubert • Madame Bovary > seen as first realistic novel • Women’s hapless search for love • Emile Zola • Turns realism into a movement • Observes and reports characters much like a lab experiment • Explores subjects not touched by others such as • Alcoholism, prostitution, adultery, labor strife, etc. • Defended Captain Dreyfus • Henrik Ibsen • Carried realism into the dramatic presentation of domestic life > A Doll’s House • Works were controversial > attacked the cloak of respectability of the middle class • George Bernard Shaw • Defended Ibsen > attacked romanticism and false respectability • Mrs. Warren’s Profession • Famous works dealt with prostitution, romantic ideals of love and war, and ideals of Christianity

22. Modernism in Literature • Modernism? • The deliberate departure from tradition and the use of innovative forms of expression that distinguish many styles in the arts and literature of the 20th century • Like Realism, critical of the middle class • Concern with beauty rather than social issues • Proponents of Modernism • Virginia Woolf • Marcel Proust • Thomas Mann • James Joyce • John Maynard Keynes (Keynesian economics) • Flourished before and after WWI • After the violence in WWI readers were less shocked by upheaval in literary forms

23. The Coming of Modern Art • Impressionism • Concentrated on modern life, using light, color, and the momentary, largely unfocused visual experience of the social landscape • Arose in Paris • Captured heart and character of the subject • Candid poses & movement > usually realistic scenes • Famous impressionists included; Edward Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Edgar Degas • Post-Impressionism (younger generation) • Form and structure, rather than the impression of the movement • Used unnatural colors & did not worry about the appearance of their subjects • Understood as a continuation of impressionism • Famous post-impressionists included; Georges Seurat, Paul Cezanne, Vincent Van Gogh, and Paul Gauguin • Cubism • Instead of painting as a window to the real world, painting was an autonomous realm of art itself with no purpose beyond itself • Attempt to include as many perspectives into one surface of painting • Redirect the portrayal of reality • Famous cubists were Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso

24. Name The Style of Art

25. Paul Cezanne entitled The Card Players

26. Claude Monet entitled Sunrise

27. Marcel Duchamp entitled Nude Descending a Staircase

28. Edward Manet entitled Boating

29. Vincent Van Gogh entitled Starry Night

30. Pablo Picasso entitled Bottle of Vieux Marc, Glass, Guitar and Newspaper

31. Camille Pissaro entitled The Woodcutter

32. George Seurat entitled A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte Pointillism > the use of a point, or dot, as the basis for the construction of a painting. 

33. Paul Cezanne entitled Mountain Sainte-Victoire

34. Pierre Auguste Renoir entitled Young Girls at the Piano

35. Paul Gauguin entitled Still-Life with Fruit and Lemons

36. George Braque entitled Mandora

37. Pablo Picasso entitled Weeping Woman

38. Pierre Auguste Renoir entitled Dance in the City

39. Edgar Degas entitled After the Bath, Woman Drying Herself

40. Vincent Van Gogh entitled Café Terrace At Night

41. Pablo Picasso entitled Jacqueline

42. Claude Monet entitled Cliff Walk at Pourville

43. Vincent Van Gogh entitled Wheatfield with Crows

44. Paul Cezanne entitled Lady in Blue

45. Edward Manet entitled Grand Canal

46. Friedrich NietzscheRevolt Against Reason • Questioned rational thinking, Christianity, democracy, nationalism, science, and progress • Rationalism? • knowledge acquired through reason not experience • The Birth of Tragedy (1872) urged the non-rational aspects of human nature are as noble as rational characteristics • Non-rational?? • Critical of racism and anti-Semitism • Sought to return to heroism and greatness of the Ancient Greeks • Christianity and morals of life prevented this • Wanted to abandon values of the day and replace them with a new moral order glorifying pride, assertiveness, strength, humility, weakness, etc. • Drew on romanticism

47. Retreat from Rationalism in Politics • Max Weber (sociologist) • Social theorist • People develop their own self-worth from large organizations • Bureaucratization basic feature or driving force of social life • Each individual fit into a particular role • Famous work > The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism • He opposed Marx’s concept of the development of capitalism • His own theory > “Protestant Ethics Thesis” > hotly debated • Religion cause of current economic conditions (capitalism) • Calvinists/Puritans worked toward perfection • Collective Behavior? • The belief in the necessity of shared values and activities in society because they bind human beings together • Advocates > Emile Durkheim & Graham Wallas • Instinct, habit, and affections, instead of reason, drive human behavior • Weber differed > social situation > drive human behavior

48. Psychoanalysis – Freud and Jung • Modern Thought > probe what is beneath the surface • Psychoanalysis prime example • Sigmund Freud’s early theories? • Early studies were on psychic disorders > used hypnosis • Theorized that human beings are sexual from birth through adulthood • Sexuality as one of the bases of mental order and disorder • Freud and dreams – argued that unconscious drives and desires contribute to conscious behavior • Freud’s later thought – internal mind is based on the struggle of three entities • id – amoral, irrational, driving instincts of sexual gratification • superego – the external moral imperatives and expectations imposed on the personality put on by society and culture • ego – mediates the impulses of the id with the morals of the superego • Carl Jung – Freud’s student who goes away from his teacher’s theories and believes collective memories along with personal experience constitute a human being’s soul / saw value in religion • Freud rejected religion > realist > saw it as an illusion

50. Racism • Existed in Europe for a long time • Renaissance explorers attitudes towards non-whites • 18th Century biologists classifying human beings according to the color of their skin, language, & stage of civilization • 19th Century > linguistics > idea of ancient race (Aryans) where all other languages derived from • Slavery question leads more to racial theory • Race is used as the dominant explanation of history/character of people • Late 1800’s racism linked to biological sciences • Justification for hierarchy of superior and inferior races • Gobineau • Portrayed the troubles of Western civilization as the result of the long degeneration? of the original white Aryan race • Survival of the fittest is applied to racism • Chamberlain • Superior race could be developed through genetics • Anti-Semitic > blamed Jews for degeneration