Ch 13 sec 1
There are 4 areas we will discuss today. The intellectual changes that occurred during and immediately after WW1. The artistic changes that occurred. Social changes Technological changes
Einstein’s theory of relativity goes against what scientists since Isaac Newton had accepted for years. Gravity is not a force, but a result of the curvature of space and time due to the presence of mass, energy, and momentum. He also comes up with E=mc², which will eventually lead to nuclear energy, and nuclear weapons.
He came up with the idea that the speed of light is constant, and other things that seem constant, like space and time, are not. Space and time change when measured relative to something traveling at the speed of light. So things that had been accepted as constant for years are now shown to change.
He states that much of human behavior is irrational, without reason. He came up with the idea of the unconscious mind. When there are things that the conscious mind cannot handle, it gets put into the unconscious mind, and then shows itself in dreams.
Existentialism becomes more important after WW1, as pessimism grows throughout Europe, and one of the leaders is Friedrich Nietzsche. There is no all-encompassing meaning to life, the only meaning comes from the choices you make, and what you do. Nietzsche goes so far as to say that “God is dead.” Meaning that religion is not the answer to life.
The brutality and destruction of World War 1 caused writers to question reason and progress of society. Doubts about religion, and predictions of an unsettling future are written about. The young people of the world who survived the devastation of World War 1 were called “the Lost Generation” by Gertrude Stein because of their apathy and doubt.
Artists rebel against the earlier realist movement and go towards Dadaism and surrealism. Dadaism was really about nothing. It embraced anarchy and irrationality. It went against the accepted ideas of society before WW1. Surrealism is based on the ideas of Freud and others. They wanted to connect the abstract of the unconscious with the real material world.
In the 1920’s, young people are willing to break from the past and experiment with different values. The most drastic changes come in the roles of women. The right to vote, and the changes in fashion allow women to express themselves in new ways, and to have new careers.
After WW1 ends, the war’s technological advances are used to improve transportation and communication. The automobile affects where people live and work and increases leisure travel. International air travel increases. Radio and movies provide new outlets for entertainment.
With the devastation brought by World War 1, everything began to be questioned. The trust in the old way of thinking was replaced by doubt and apathy. People wanted answers, but could not find them anywhere. Science, religion, old governments all were shown to be incomplete.
How did the ideas of each of these men, Einstein, Freud, and Nietzsche, represent the Age of Doubt that hits Europe after WW1? Didn’t they help explain things? Half-page answer.