1. AGE OF ANXIETY

2. Essential Questions  Why did doubts emerge concerning the belief in human progress during the 1920s?  Who were the major thinkers and works which influenced the search for meaning in post World War I Europe?

3.  18 th & 19 th centuries marked by an acknowledgment to science and reason

4. Nietzsche  The West overemphasized rationality  Conventional values suffocated creativity  On the Genealogy of Morals  “God is dead” – the West had killed Christianity and that left people disoriented and depressed  Only a few ubermenschen – supermen could reorder the world and become true heroes

5. The Philosophy Revolt – 3 Paths  Logical Positivism  Existentialism  Revival Christianity

6. Logical Positivism  Sees meaning in only those beliefs that can be empirically proven – all else is nonsense  Ludwig Wittgenstein – Austrian philosopher  “Of what one cannot speak, of the one must keep silent”

7. Existentialism  Stresses the meaninglessness of existence and the importance of the individual in searching for moral values in an uncertain world.  Jean-Paul Sartre – French philosopher  “existence precedes essence” – your actions give life meaning  There is a ethical component suggesting one should be engaged in the world

8. Revival of Christianity  Soren Kierkegaard – Swiss Danish theologian  Impossible to prove God but must take a “leap of faith”  Gabriel Marcel – leading Catholic existential  Religion provided hope in a “broken world”  Denounced anti-Semitism and smoothed relations with non-Catholics  Religious participation on the rise 1920-1950