1. 15.1 An Age of Uncertainty
After WWI, new ideas and inventions replaced many traditional ones.
Changes in physics, psychology, art, literature, communications, transportation, and music still affect our lives today.

2. Science Challenges Old Ideas
15.1 An Age of Uncertainty
Science Challenges Old Ideas
Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
interrelationships between time and space & between energy
and matter
speed of light is constant but space and time can change as
an object approaches light speed
Newton’s view, that the world operated according to
absolute laws of motion and gravity were replaced by
Einstein’s relativism

3. Science Challenges Old Ideas
15.1 An Age of Uncertainty
Science Challenges Old Ideas
Sigmund Freud’s Freudian Psychology (Psychoanalysis)
- believed human behavior is irrational, derived mostly from unconscious motivation
- eros (sexual instinct) and thanatos (death instinct) shape behavior
developed a theory including developmental stages,
pathology (when things go wrong), and why we act the way we do.
- weakened faith in reason

4. Literature in an Age of Doubt
15.1 An Age of Uncertainty
Literature in an Age of Doubt
The brutality of WWI caused philosophers and writers to question
accepted ideas about reason and progress
TS Eliot wrote that Western Civilization had lost its spiritual values

5. 15.1 An Age of Uncertainty Friedrich Nietzsche :
Existentialism  people’s choices shape their lives
- There is no universal meaning of life
- Each person gives meaning to life by making choices
Friedrich Nietzsche :
- people should return to a philosophy of pride, assertiveness and strength, and put less faith in religion, reason, democracy, and progress
Franz Kafka: wrote The Trial about a never-ending trial and The Metamorphosis about a man turned into a cockroach—dark, foreboding, disturbing novels

6. 15.1 An Age of Uncertainty Rebellion in the Arts Architecture
Artists start to break away from tradition by adding the inner world of emotion & imagination
Surrealism  art movement that sought to link the world of dreams with real life
-- tried to call on the unconscious part of their minds
-- surrealist paintings showed "a dream-like quality"
Architecture
 functionalism -- buildings in which the design
reflected the building's function instead of creating
highly ornamented structures

7. New Compositional Stules and the Jazz Age
15.1 An Age of Uncertainty
New Compositional Stules and the Jazz Age
12-tone compositions embraced mathematics and discarded tonality
Dissonance and percussive works became more common
JAZZ – created and performed
mostly by African Americans in New Orleans,
Memphis, and Chicago. Shocking at first, it
symbolized the freedom and spontaneity of the time (1920's = Jazz Age)

8. 15.1 An Age of Uncertainty Jazz Age
The Jazz Age does not only refer to the birth of jazz but also a change in literature, art, and the people.
Society becomes more Open
- new kind of individual freedom
- changes in woman's lives (the right to vote)
- war gave woman new roles and after the war, woman's suffrage became law in many countries
- Flappers - shorter clothes & hair, drove cars, drank and smoked in public

9. Technology Changes Life
15.1 An Age of Uncertainty
Technology Changes Life
the pace of inventions quickened by WWI included
- new drugs and medical treatments developed that helped millions of people in postwar years
- better transportation and communication
The Automobile
- as time went on, the # of production of cars increased and prices dropped
- more leisure travel time & more availability to middle class
Airplanes
- Charles Lindbergh - 33 hour solo flight from NY to Paris
- passenger airlines established
Radio and motion pictures
- commercial radio established
unlike expensive air travel, most families owned a radio
movies revolutionize popular entertainment