Chapter 26 - Age of Anxiety

Friedrich Nietzsche

German philosopher who believed in nihilism and said that religion was for the weak, meek, and non-independent thinkers, and that society discourages creativity. Pushed the mentality that humans should strive for greatness. "God is dead"

Existentialism

The idea that human beings simply exist, have no higher purpose (there is no God to direct them), and must exist and choose their actions for themselves. Be in the world (exist) "the right way" - mentality that one is already living, so why not try to make your own living environment a better place?

Logical Positivism/Empiricism

rejected most concerns of traditional philosophy from the existence of God to the meaning of happiness as nonsense & hot air. What we know about human life must be based off of direct observation. Became mainstream philosophical discussion after WWI

Jean-Paul Sartre

French philosopher who developed French existentialism and said that man just appeared, any man can overcome any hardship, each man defines his own existence, and religion and morality are nonsense

Nihilism

the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in the belief that life is meaningless

“New Physics”

a period of scientific discoveries upturning preconceptions about the true laws of the universe in the early 20th century and the interwar period

Marie Curie

discovered radioactivity, finding that radium emits subatomic particles

Albert Einstein

formed his theory of relativity, undermining the Newton’s laws of motion from the Enlightenment

discovery of subatomic particles, radioactivity, quantum energy, special relativity, splitting the atom, and Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle

New Physics discoveries:

Sigmund Freud

Austrian neurologist who originated psychoanalysis (1856-1939); Said that human behavior is irrational; behavior is the outcome of conflict between the id (irrational unconscious driven by sexual, aggressive, and pleasure-seeking desires) and ego (rationalizing conscious, what one can do) and superego (ingrained moral values, what one should do

Functionalism

A new principle of building design that focused on buildings being functional which means serving the purpose it was made for best

Bauhaus

German art and architectural style of early 20th century known for its simplicity, functionalism, and craftsmanship created by Walter Gropius

Dadaism

an artistic movement of the 1910s and 1920s that attacked all accepted standards of art and behavior and delighted in outrageous conduct; a response to WWI; Marcel Duchamp

Cubism

created by Pablo Picasso, an art movement that concentrated on geometry of zigzagging lines, sharp angles, & overlapping lines; looks at issues in all different angles through the geometry

Pablo Picasso

a Spanish artist, founder of Cubism; painter of Guernica

Surrealism

type of art dealing with nonsensical dream-like scenes with no reality that could sometimes be considered obscene. Connected to theories of Freud.

Salvador Dalí

Spanish surrealist; painter of “Persistence of Memory”

Impressionism

Type of art not recreating an exact scene more like an experience. Ideals of form, color, shape, and line are important, rather than what the eye perceives the object to look like; Claude Monet and Van Gogh

many artists came to believe that art had a mission to produce social change; also, art became politized in authoritarian states like Nazi Germany, where it was repressed

Role of art in society:

“New Woman”

an independent female who could vote and held a job, spent her salary on the latest fashions, applied makeup, and smoke cigarettes; reflection of the new standards of living and consumer culture of the early 20th century

Modern Consumer Culture

the arrival of household appliances, fashionable clothing, personal care products, automobiles, and new technologies; undermined class structures with the availability of products but also reinforced them with luxury goods

Gaumont Palace

Largest cinema in the world, Paris, France, with over 3,400 seats. Built in 1899 - reached it's height in the 20's and 30's

Cinema

new technology of the early 1900s, creating a big business by the 1920s, and providing consumers with entertainment and an escape from reality in the consumerist age

Radio

new technology of the early 1900s, became a full mass media in the 1920s; allowed people to receive information and entertainment easier than ever before and allowed governments to control it and influence the people

John Maynard Keynes

British economist who argued that for a nation to recovery fully from a depression, the government had to spend money to encourage investment and consumption

radio

3 out of 4 households in Great Britain had _____ :

Theory of Special Relativity

Albert Einstein's theory that time and space are relative to the observer and that only the speed of light remains constant

Id, Ego, and Superego

Freudian terms to describe the three parts of the self and the basis of human behavior, which Freud saw as basically irrational

Modernism

a label given to the artistic and cultural movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which were typified by radical experimentation that challenged traditional forms of artistic expression

Stream-of-Consciousness Technique

a literary technique, found in works by Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and others, that uses interior monologue -a character's thoughts and feelings as they occur -to explore the human psyche

Dawes Plan

war reparations agreement that reduced Germany's yearly payments, made payments dependent on economic growth, and granted large U.S. loans to promote recovery

Great Depression

a worldwide economic depression from 1929 through 1939, unique in its severity and duration and with slow and uneven recovery

Popular Front

a short-lived New Deal-inspired alliance in France of socialists, communists, and radicals led by Léon Blum that encouraged the union movement and launched a far-reaching program of social reform

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

originated in the 1920s - Radio station under state control in Britain, used sometimes for political propaganda

Ruhr Crisis

Germany announced they couldn't pay their reparations, France invades this region of Germany to collect reparations; worsens the problem as the Ruhr district is an industrial hub, and later leads to Germany printing money causing hyperinflation

German Hyperinflation

caused by heavy German reparations from WWI, the Weimar Republic began printing money, causing runaway inflation, greatly impacted many middle and lower class Germans

Locarno Agreement

Germany and France pledged to accept a common boarder; both Britain and Italy agreed to fight either France or Germany if one invaded the other; settled boundary dispute between Poland and Czech. (France promised aid to these countries if Germany attacked)

Mein Kampf

book written by Hitler where he outlines his beliefs: Germans are a superior race, The Treaty of Versailles treated Germany unfairly and that a crowded Germany needed the lands of Eastern Europe and Russia

Beer Hall Putsch

Hitler’s attempt to overthrow the struggling and unpopular Weimar Republic with his National Socialist Party, causing him to be jailed

Labour Party

the new liberal party of the 20th century, reflecting the decline of old liberal ideas of free market capitalism, individual responsibility, and government regulation

Social Democratic Leadership

the flexible & nonrevolutionary socialist government in Scandinavia that grew out of a strong tradition of cooperative community action; passed important social reform legislation for both peasants & workers, gained practical administrative experience, & developed a unique kind of socialism