1. The Inter-War Years

2. Major Themes of This Lecture
The Age of Anxiety The Loss of Confidence in Continuous Human Progress and the Power of Human Reason
The Search for Post War Stability in the 1920s
The Destruction of That Stability- The Great Depression

3. Attempt At Another Amazing Metaphor
Pre 1914 World
Technological Gadgets to Ease Life
Shorter Work Hours
Society/ The Age of Anxiety
World War I
Reason
Progress
Stream of Consciousness- distopias
Science
Freud
Peace
Einstein
Industry
Existentialism

4. Theme #1 The Age of Anxiety
What was it?
A break in the centuries-old faith in human progress that had started in the Renaissance and continued through the Scientific Revolution , Enlightenment, and Industrial Revolution
“Perhaps human reason can solve all of our problems…”
“Umm… ok… scratch that.”

5. Why this loss of faith? Largely because of the horrors of WWI
‘This is what science and reason brought us?’
Evident across many fields: philosophy, psychology, literature, physics
Pre World War I = optimism for the future
Post World War I= pessimism for the future
“If modern science brought us the slaughter in the trenches, what will future ‘progress’ bring us?
Not totally misguided… think about the atom bomb

6. Philosophy Nietzsche Reason and human intellect are weak
Instead, emotion and passion are the keys to human strength
Human society glorifies the weak (‘blessed are the meek’), but should instead glorify the strong
God is dead
There is no external meaning… there is only the meaning that we give to the universe
Most people are too weak to discover a meaning, but some ‘supermen’ would be able to do it
Thought democracy was part of the weakness…gives all, even the weak, a voice
Remember, democracy has been on the rise all throughout the 19th century
Very influential in the country of …???
Germany
Fight Hitler

7. Philosophy (cont.)
Schools of Philosophical Thought Inspired by Nietzsche and the Age of Anxiety
Logical empiricism
Philosophy is just a verbal grinding of gears… there is no way to determine anything about the large questions philosophy tries to answer
Existentialism
There is no external meaning. Humans must create their own meaning.
However, humans must act. For example, existentialists had to decide how to respond when Hitler took over Europe. To fight him or not?
How did most react?
Against Hitler
Why is it obvious that existentialists must be atheists?

8. You Tube- Nietzsche interprets Hitler

9. Physics Pre-Einstein Einstein’s relativity After Einstein
Early discoveries of radiation and quanta…
even the atom is not stable
Einstein’s relativity
All space and time are relative to the observer… there is no absolute space or time
The only absolute is…???
matter and energy are forms of each other
More on this later, no?!
After Einstein
Heisenberg uncertainty principle
If you know exactly where a particle is, you cannot know its speed. If you know its exact speed, you cannot know exactly where it is.
The speed of light

10. VS Which is more comfortable to believe?
If a human were to move near the speed of light, time would slow down for them, relative to the observer… VS
Which is more comfortable to believe?

11. Freudian Psychology Freudian View of the Brain
Pre-Freudian View of the Brain
Output
Output
Input
Input
Logic

12. Mr. Hansen’s Milkshakes brings all the boys to the yard. ;)

13. Part of the Freudian Brain
Id- Primitive Desires  food, sex, pleasure
Ego – rational brain Which of the Id desires can I get away with without getting in trouble
Superego- Conscience  Should I try to get away with stuff I want, even if it is wrong?

14. Literature Literature
Reflects age of anxiety… author is not omniscient… society is confusing and characters are confused…
stream of consciousness (see James Joyce’s Ulysses below)
"...I was a Flower of the mountain yes when I put the rose in my hair like the Andalusian girls used or shall I wear a red yes and how he kissed me under the Moorish wall and I thought well as well him as another and then I asked him with my eyes to ask again yes and then he asked me would I yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me so he could feel my breasts all perfume yes and his heart was going like mad and yes I said yes I will Yes. "
Distopias

15. Religion Christian Existentialists worked to revitalize religion
if reason is flawed, instead of saying there is no meaning, return to an extra-rational god….
Re-emphasize the non-rational aspects of Christianity

16. Society/ The Age of Anxiety
Revival of Christianity

17. ART Realism Was Killed by the _____??? (a technology)
Impressionism Replaced Realism
Impressionists seek to give the subjective, emotional, personal view of something (a way to be ‘realer’ than the camera)
Post-Impressionists (aka Expressionists)
Expressionists begin to use abstract shape to convey emotions
sometimes called les fauves (the beasts) by their critics, for the oddness of their images
Types of expressionism
Cubism (Picasso)
Dadaism (down with convention and tradition- nihilist)
Surrealism (linked to Freudian exploration of the dream world and unconscious mind)
Camera

18. Impressionist

19. Look At the Rest of the Art Pieces In an Attempt to Feel the Anguish and Search For Meaning

20. Edvard Munch: The Scream (1893)
Expressionism
Using bright colors to express a particular emotion.

21. Franz Marc: Animal Destinies (1913)
Expressionism

22. Wassily Kandinsky: On White II (1923)
Expressionism

23. Picasso  Studio with Plaster Head [1925]
Cubism

24. Georges Braque  Still Life LeJeur [1929]
Cubism

25. Dadaism

26. Salvador Dali: Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War), 1936
Surrealism

27. Radios and Movies Appealed to mass audiences, unlike highbrow art
Could be used for indoctrination/ propaganda

28. End of Part I

29. Hansen. Name __________________ AP Euro
Hansen Name __________________ AP Euro The Age of Anxiety (Interwar Years Theme #1)
What Was It?
A break in the centuries-old faith in ________________ that had started in the Renaissance and continued through the _____________________ , Enlightenment, and Industrial Revolution
“Perhaps human reason can ____________________ _____________________________________”
“Umm… ok… ________________.”
Why this loss of faith?
Largely because of ____________________________
‘This is what _____________________ brought us?’
Evident across many fields: philosophy, psychology, literature, physics
Pre World War I = _________ for the future
Post World War I= ___________ for the future
“If modern science brought us the slaughter in the trenches, what will __________________________ ____________________________?
Not totally misguided… think about the __________
Philosophy
Nietzsche
Reason and human intellect ______________
Instead, _________________________ are the keys to human strength
Human society glorifies the weak (‘blessed are the meek’), but should i_________________________ ___________________
God is ___________
There is no _____________________ … there is only the meaning that _______________ to the universe
Most people are too weak to discover a meaning, but ______________________________________ _________________________________________
Thought _______________ was part of the weakness…gives all,_____________________ ____ ____________________________________
Remember, democracy has been on the rise all throughout the 19th century
Very influential in the country of _________ ???
Schools of Philosophical Thought Inspired by Nietzsche and the Age of Anxiety
Logical empiricism
Philosophy is just a _______________ ____________________________… there is no way to determine anything about the ________________________ philosophy tries to answer
Existentialism
There is no external meaning. Humans must _____________________________.
However, humans must _____. For example, existentialists had to decide how to respond when ____________________ _________________________. To fight him or not?
How did most react?
_______________________
Why is it obvious that existentialists must be atheists? __________________________
Physics
Pre-Einstein
Early discoveries of _________________ ________________________________
even _________________ is not stable
Einstein’s ______________
All _______________________ are relative to the observer… there is no ____________ space or time
The only absolute is…___________________
_____________________ are forms of each other
More on this later, no?!
After Einstein
Heisenberg ______________________________
If you know exactly where a particle ____, you cannot know its ________. If you know its exact ________, you cannot know exactly where it _____.

30. Expressionists begin to use abstract shape to convey _______________
Freudian Psychology
Parts of the Freudian Brain
______________ - Primitive Desires  food, sex, pleasure
_________________– rational brain Which of the Id desires can I get away with without getting in trouble
__________________- Conscience  Should I try to get away with stuff I want, even if it is wrong?
Literature
Reflects age of anxiety… author is _____________________ … society is _________________and _________________ are confused…
stream of _____________________
Dystopias
Religion
_________________________________ worked to revitalize religion
if reason is flawed, instead of saying there is no meaning, ________________________________ ____________________________________….
Re-emphasize the _________________ aspects of Christianity
Art
Realism Was Killed by the ______________??? (a technology)
___________________ Replaced Realism
Impressionists seek to give the subjective, emotional, _____________ of something (a way to be _________________than the camera)
Post-Impressionists (aka ____________________________)
Expressionists begin to use abstract shape to convey _______________
sometimes called les fauves (the beasts) by their critics, for the ____________________________
Types of expressionism
____________ (Picasso)
_____________ (down with convention and tradition- nihilist)
_________________ (linked to Freudian exploration of the dream world and unconscious mind)
Radio and Movies
Appealed to ____________________, unlike highbrow art
Could be used for ______________________________ _____________________________________________