Toward the Modern Consciousness

Application of Darning’s principle of organic evolution= social Darwinism most popular exponent of social Darwinism, Herbert Spencer, argued that societies were organisms that evolved through time from a struggle with their environment Darning’s ideas applied to human society in an even more radical way by rabid nationalists and racists extreme nationalists argued that nations were in a “struggle for existence” German general Frederica von Bernhard argued: War is a biological necessity of the first importance, “War is the father of all things” Nationalist Association of Italy declared “we must teach Italy the value of international struggle. But international struggle is war? Well, then, let there be war! And nationalism will arouse the will for a strengthened More dangerous than in Germany Folk ( nation, people, or race) German foolish ideology, Houston Stewart Charmingly, became a German citizen.
His book The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century, were the only pure successors of the “Aryans” who were portrayed as the true and original creators of Western culture Aryan race, under German leadership, must be prepared to fight for Western Civilization and save it from the destructive assaults of such lower races such as Jews, Negroes, and Orientals Jews singled out by German foolish nationalists as the racial enemy The Attack on Christianity and the Response of the Churches Industrialization and arbitration had an especially adverse effect on religious institutions Mass migration= change from the close- knit, traditional ties of the village in which the church had been a key force to new urban patterns of social life from which the churches were often excluded. Lattice movements also hostile to the established Christian churches predominantly Catholic countries imposed control over church courts, religious orders, and appointments of the clergy failure of evolutions, governments were eager to use the churches’ aid in reestablishing order close union of state authorities with established churches produced a backlash in the form of anticlericalism, especially in the liberal nation-states French republican government substituted civic training for religious instruction Toto undermine the Catholic church’s control of education Catholic teaching orders were outlawed, church and state were completely separated Science became one of the chief threats to all the Christian churches Europeans seem to contradict the doctrine of divine reaction, seeking to suppress Darning’s books & to forbid the teaching of the evolutionary hypothesis, the churches often caused even more educated people to reject established religions biblical scholars to apply critical principles to the Bible, leading to the so- called higher criticism Ernst Reran, French Catholic, Life of Jesus- questioned the historical accuracy of the Bible, Jesus not as the son of God but as a human being whose value lay in the example he provided by his life Christian churches rejection of modern ideas and forces Protestant fundamentalist sects maintain a literal interpretation of the Bible Pope Pips ‘X, also took a rigid stand against modern ideas, issued a papal encyclical called the Syllabus of Errors in which he stated that is “an error to believe that the Roman Pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to and agree with progress, liberalism, and modern civilization” He condemned nationalism, socialism, religious toleration, and freedom of speech and press Religious movement called Modernism included an attempt by the churches the reinterpret Christianity in the light of new developments.
Bible as a book of useful moral ideas, encouraged Christians to come involved in social reforms, churches must provide a greater sense of community Catholic church condemned Modernism & had driven it underground compromise Leo XIII, permitted the teaching of evolution as a hypothesis in Catholic schools encyclical De Rerun Nouveau, upheld the individual’s right to private property but at the same time criticized “naked” capitalism for the poverty and degradation in which anti-religious foundations Salvation Army by William Booth, the army’s first “general” Salvation Army established food centers, shelters, and “rescue homes” for women The Culture of Modernity revolution in physics and psychology was paralleled by a revolution in literature and the arts Naturalism and Symbolism in Literature literature was dominated by Naturalism material world as real and felt that literature should be realistic social problems, writers could contribute to an objective understanding of the world Naturalism was a continuation of Realism, it lacked the underlying note of liberal optimism about people and society Naturalists were pessimistic about Rupee’s future and characters caught in the grip of forces beyond their control Emilee Kola provide a good example of Naturalism

Kola showed how alcoholism and different environments affected people’s lives Darning’s Origin of Species and had been impressed by its emphasis on the struggle for survival and the importance of environment and heredity His Oregon- McCarty, a 20- Volume series on the “natural and social history of a family” golden age for Russian literature Leo Tolstoy and Food Dostoevsky Tolstoy greatest work was War and Peace, lengthy novel played out against the historical background of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, realistic in its vivid description of military life and character portrayal, each person analyzed psychologically, face of fife’s enduring values of human love and trust Dostoevsky combined narrative skill and acute psychological and moral observation, major problem of his age was a loss of spiritual belief, attempting to gain salvation through the construction of a materialistic paradise built only by human reason and will. Feared that the failure to incorporate spirit would result in total tyranny. Through suffering and faith could the human soul be purified, Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov. Symbolists reacted against Realism interested in writing poetry, believed that an objective knowledge of the world was impossible the external world was not real but only a collection of symbols that reflected the true reality of the individual human mind Art should function for its own sake, instead of serving, criticizing, or seeking to understand society W. B.
Yeats and Rainier Maria Rile, poetry ceased to be part of popular culture because only through a knowledge of the poet’s personal language could one hope to understand what the poem was saying Modernism in the Arts artists seeking new form of expression Impressionism, movement that originated in France when a group of artists rejected he studios and museums and went out into the countryside to paint nature directly Camille Pissarro, one of the founders, put into painting their impressions of the changing effects of light on objects in nature Claude Monet, enchanted with water , capture the interplay of light, water, and atmosphere, ESPECIALLY evident in Impression, Sunrise. Did not Just paint scenes from nature: streets, cabarets, rivers, and busy boulevards- wherever people congregated for work and leisure Berth Morison, practice of women beings only amateur artists and became a professional omen had special vision, “more delicate than that of of men”.
Young Girl by the Window demonstrates flowing brush strokes. “l know I’m worth as much as they. ” Post- Impressionism arose in France retained the Impressionist emphasis on light and color but revolutionized it even further by paying more attention to structure and form sought to use both color and line to express inner feelings and produce a personal statement of reality rather than an imitation of objects real beginnings of modern art sense of realism Paul C©Zane, most important impressionist, Woman with Coffee Pot, sought to express visually the underlying geometric structure and form of everything he painted. “You must see in nature the cylinder, the sphere, and the cone. Tortured and tragic figure, Vincent Van Gogh, art was a spiritual experience interested in color and believed it could act as its own form of language artists should paint what they feel, evident in Starry Night task of art was to represent “reality” had lost much of its meaning psychology and the new physics made it evident that many people were not sure what constituted reality development of photography gave artists another season to reject visual realism photography became a popular and widespread after George Eastman produced the first Kodak camera for the mass market Unlike the camera, which could only mirror reality, artists could create reality As in literature, individual consciousness became the source of meaning the search for individual expression produced a wide variety of schools of painting Pablo Picasso, from Spain but settled in Paris, extremely flexible and painted in a remarkable variety of styles He developed Cubism that used geometric designs as visual stimuli to re- create laity in the viewer’s mind Picasso work Less Demolishes d’ Avignon= first Cubist painting Russian who worked in Germany, Wassail Sandbanks, one of the founders of abstract painting as is evident in Painting with White Border, sought to avoid representation altogether.
Believed art should speak directly to the soul, avoid any visual reality and concentrate on color Modernism in music Romantics’ attraction to exotic and primitive cultures had sparked attraction to exotic and primitive cultures folk music became increasingly important as musicians express their national identities Scandinavian composer, Advanced Grief, dedicated porter of Norwegian nationalism, expressed nationalism in lyric melodies found in folk music of his homeland, Peer Gent Suite= incidental music to a play by Henries Ibsen Impressionist music stressed elusive moods and haunting sensations and is distinct in its delicate beauty and elegance of sound linked to the Impressionist movement was Claude Debussy, Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun= inspired by a poem “Afternoon of a Faun” composed by his friend/poet SST©phone Mallard©, recreated in sound the overall feeling of the poem Other composers adopted stylistic idioms, primitive forms in an attempt to express less refined and therefore more genuine feelings musical primitivism was Igor Stravinsky, 20th century’s most important composer international fame as a ballet composer with the Ballet Reuse, under the direction of Sergei Dishevel, revolutionized the world of music with a series of ballets The Fired, Puppeteers, The Rite of Spring= all based on Russian folk tales The Rite of Spring proved to be a revolutionary piece in the development of Paris audience and caused a riot at the theater new understanding of irrational forces