THE AGE OF ANXIETY THE SCREAM EDWARD MUNCH UNCERTAINTY IN MODERN THOUGHT Modern Philosophy Nietzsche emptiness of social convention, meaninglessness of individual life Ubermench superman goes against society without wanting followers. All that matters is self- defined personal integrity. Existentialism each person creates their own truth based on experiences EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE EUROPEAN CONTINENT - EXISTENTIALISM Atheists who sought morals in a world of terror and uncertainty Jean-Paul Sarte defined life by purposeful choices Albert Camus (The Stranger) Only constant is human absurdity Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers attracted Germans to Existentialism English Speaking Countries Philosophies Logical Postivism Human life must be based upon rational facts and direct observation. Ludwig Wittgenstein emphasized the logical relationship between propositions and the world. If something cannot be empirically or logically proven (like God or morality) it was not valid. (Later, he rejected many of his earlier beliefs and argued that we are limited by our language symbol for meanings that limits actual meanings) REVIVAL OF CHRISTIANITY Also in despair, some turned to God as the only answer to loneliness and anxiety after the Great War Kierkegaard: leap of faith to reach an unknowable God Barth: neo-Lutheran. Truth known only by Gods grace. Aldus Huxley Brave New World THE NEW PHYSICS Marie Curie ( ) and Max Planck ( ) new atomic theory No longer unbreakable blocks of life Albert Einstein ( ) changed Newtonian physics Space and time are relative to the viewpoint of the observer Matter and energy are interchangeable Unifies infinite universe with subatomic world (just like?) Ernest Rutherford ( ) atom could be split Big Idea: Newtonian physics = rational world New Physics = tendencies and probabilities RELATIVITY FREUDIAN PSYCHOLOGY Sigmund Freud ( ) was first to rationally explain human behavior Became popular in US and Europe around 1918 20 TH CENTURY LITERATURE 19 TH CENTURY AUTHORS All knowing narrators describing characters and relationships 20 TH CENTURY AUTHORS Point of view of single, confused individual or people Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, and James Joyce ART MOVIES Replaced traditional arts and amusement weekly entertainment RADIO Commercially available in 1920 Most households in Britain and Germany had inexpensive sets by late 1930s Political propaganda tool MUSIC Igor Stravinsky ( ) emotional intensity of expressionism The Rite of Spring Alban Berg ( ) Expressionism into opera Arnold Schonberg ( ) atonal music EUROPEAN POLITICS 1922 France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr American Dawes Plan (1924) cut reparations and funded European recovery with American loans Weimar Republic (democracy) in Germany Gustav Stresemann ( ) Britain Labour Party passed welfare measures guaranteeing social peace and class equality THE GREAT DEPRESSION Economic Crisis caused by speculation and inflation Classical economics did not account for deficit spending as a way to stimulate the economy (John Maynard Keynes) The New Deal USA Swedish Social Democratic Party stabilized economy with social welfare and deficit spending (like New Deal) Depression in Germany