7.4, 7.5 & 7

7.4 - Darwinism, Social Darwinism 

Darwinism 

Charles Darwin - Englishman that research theology but had an interest in geology, Volunteer to go on an scientific expedition, Mission: study plant & animal life (Pacific & South America)

- During his expedition he doubted that God created the universe with divine power but that species evolved over time & response to the changing environment

- Book (The Origin of Species): plants and animals evolved through natural selection = weaker species would die out while stronger species would adapt and survive (survival of the fittest) 

- Book: The Descent of Man (1871) - principles of evolution and natural selection to the human race, aka. The human race evolved from lower forms of animals, the church didn’t like this, even though people disagreed he eventually got accepted by the public

Social Darwinism - applied principles of organic evolution to social order

Herbert Spencer - argued that civilization where like organism in the sense that weak societies died out to, Strong societies = thrived & adapted, Weak societies = destined to fade away

Spencer’s reasoning = Britain had the proper characteristics to make it more fit or stronger than their colonies which were weak and used the law of nature (natural selection) - they weren’t fit to survive, if survival of the fittest was essential to nature why shouldn’t the strong eat the weak?

Social Darwinism adopted by nationalists consequences 

Houston Stweart Chamberlain - British that became a German citizen, applied social darwinism to Germans, Germans where the pure ancestors of Aryans (true genesis of western culture), meaning that the Aryans should eliminate the lesser races of Jews, Asians, & Africans

7.5 - Age of Progress and Modernity 

The Rise of Positivism 

Evolution & Natural Selection - humans evolved over time from animals 

Positivism - any rational conclusion should be scientifically verified or provable through math, truth is only known through science and math, you discover what is true through the inside 

Ex. A microscope for a plant, math

Religion - based on divine revelation from god and not science or math, teaches that truth is taught from outside the world, Ex. from god or in the bible, atonement & forgiveness are beliefs

Positivism was a threat to revealed religion = Real Relativism - destroyed an idea of an overarching truth but that truth was relative = no truth is objective but relative 

Religion tells us what things are because god tells us, Positivism & Relativism says that we don’t no anything completely so it’s relative for each person

The Rise of Modernism 

Science is taking a step to know the world truly but further science advanced more confusing things were, Modernism = tension from the advanced science

Irrationalism = scientists mention the irrational natures of the world- challenged Enlightenment philosophy significantly (If A, then B, therefore C), irrationalism broke from this and mentioned the irrational impulses of human nature (human decisions can’t be decided rationally but on the spirit)
Freidrich Nietschze - rationalism is a small part of human life, but people are driven by passions and instincts, humans like to think they are governed by reason but Nietschze argued opposite

He thought we got this way because of Christianity and Christian moral ethic, God was dead and that Europeans had killed him to create liberation of humanity

Henri Bergson - science is good for attaining practical knowledge of the world Ex. you can jump out of a window and expect to be hurt, science useful to know about germs & medicine

Argued that science isn’t useful for analyzing and describing the true essence of society (reality only experienced intuitively not scientifically), societal progress achieved not through rationalism or science but struggle and conflict 

Psychology (Sigmond Freud) - human behavior determined and governed by subconscious of the person (created through childhood), childhood traumas repressed and struggled to make back into your conscious = what’s making your decisions, not your thoughts 

Psychoanalysis - tracing links from conscious to subconscious, Sigmond Freud laid groundwork for psychology 

Natural Sciences (Newtons) - physical world knowable through rational engagement with an equation (track planets motion or how far an apple can fall with an equation), 19th and 20th destroyed this idea

Thought before that atoms were hard bits of matter that behave predictably = reality was predictable

Max Planck - atoms radiated heart in erratic packets called quantum = Quantum mechanics show that atoms behavior irrationally not predictable (atomic level world = chaotic & unpredictable)

After Planck, Newton’s laws couldn’t describe reality 

7.8 - 19th-Century Culture and Arts

Romantic Art, Music and Literature

Romantic artist rejected rationality of Enlightenment and calculated precision of neoclassical

Romanticism prized emotion and subjectivity as an artist expression 

6 Themes of Romantic Art

1. Emotion - see emotion compared to predictable lines of neoclassical Ex. Eugene Delacroix, Christ on the Sea of Galilee - portrays emotion of the peace instead of photorealism 

2. Nature - Ex. Caspar David Friedrich, Seashore by Moonlight

3. Individuality - Ex. Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above A Sea of Fog = alone wanderer looks at foggy seascape and seems to be equal to its demands

4. Intuition - Human beings can understand the human world immediately without reasoning it out, Ex. WIlliam Wordsworth - Poetry of glory in everyday objects like a meadow, path, wildflower, or cliff - reading this you can understand that intuitive understanding is more than analytical

5. Supernatural - Ex. William Blake - devoted all of his poetry to the supernatural, did it not analytically but on the feeling of faith

6. National Histories - some were inspired by nationalism to display their feelings and wanted to write their nationalism on emotion and intuition, Ex. Fransisco Goya, The Third of May - Spanish Rebels being executed by French forces & conflict with Napoleon example of spanish nationalism with the emotion of romanticism 

Ex. Russian piano composer Tchaikovsky - wrote emotional music with different pitch and interweaving volume & harmonies = increased the emotional experience of the audience. 1812 Overture - glorify Russians who held of Napoleon’s invasion

The Rise of Realism 

Realism - artists wanted to portray the world as it was with everyday people

-  Gustav Courbet, The Stone Breakers - couple of guys breaking stones

- Jean-Francois Millet, The Gleaners - object dignified their work that wider society didn’t

- Honore de Balzac, paved the way for modern characters with complex personalities & backstories and inspired Charles Dickens to mention the peasantry and working class = Dickens is a critique of industrial rev. Environmental & social desegregation

Modern Art

Romanticism & Realism made modern art

Because of photography painters didn’t feel the need to produce realistic pieces but more abstract and subjective subjects

Impressionism - relied on light and color, Ex. Claude Monet’s, Haystacks - realism has disappeared without a clear side it has a more emotional response or impression

Post-Impressionism - symbolic use of color and light, Ex. Paul Cezanne, Portrait of AMbroise Vollard & Vincent Van Gogh, Starry Night

Cubism - subject of the painting was nonsensical (depicted 3D in 2D), Ex. Pablo Picasso, Women with a Mustard Pot 

Farther away from photorealism of realist