1. How Did We Get Sooo Modern?
Placing the 20th C. in Context

2. The 18th C. & the AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Industrial revolution supplies the pot in which the Enlightenment can stew
Thinkers from Paris and London: Descartes, Pascal, Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, etc.
Human reason can combat ignorance, superstition & tyranny
Provided basis for
French & American revolutions
Rise of capitalism & socialism
Targets
organized religion
Hereditary aristocracy

3. Basic Tenets of the Enlightenment
Autonomy of reason
The world can progress and approach perfection
We can discover causality
Principles govern
nature
man
society

4. Rene Descartes:1596-1650 "father" of modern philosophy
integrate philosophy with the "new" sciences
he may doubt, he cannot doubt that he exists
“I think, therefore I am.
Focus: “reason,” abstraction, & definition

5. Sir Isaac Newton(1642-1727): Mathematician and physicist
Focus:
OBSERVATION
EXPERIENCE
Fundamental Cosmic laws applicable from the tinniest object to the entire universe
During Enlightenment, Newton’s analytical methods are applied to every arena of thought and knowledge
Order arises from the analysis of observed facts

6. Have you had your apple today?
Discovers gravity
Asserts the force governing the motion of the apple also determines the motion of the moon
Orbits travel in an ellipse

7. Newton’s Mechanical Universe
Mathematical models can explain the behavior of the universe
Universe functions rationally & predictably
Gravity explains the consistent & mechanical movement of universe
Theology & religion are no longer necessary to explain physical phenomena of universe

8. Well then, what about God?
Universe resembles a clock built by God
God sets the universe in motion
Follows concept of INERTIA: every object rests until moved by another object; every object in motion stays in motion until redirected or stopped by another object
God “starts” the world and steps back

9. AND IF…The universe is a machine we can understand through observation
THEN …
SO CAN HISTORY, ECONOMICS, POLITICS, HUMAN CHARACTER
AND THEY CAN BE ENGINEERED OR IMPROVED LIKE MACHINES

10. The Rise of Deism
Newton separates the mechanical universe from religious explantion
If the universe was created by God and is also rational  God is rational
To understand the workings of the universe is to understand the mind of God
Therefore, religion itself is rational

11. The Prevalence of English Deism
Impersonal deity
Common morality of all humans
Faith in humanity
Assumed that man is guided by reason
Rejection of original sin
Salvation comes through social contract
Man must save himself

12. Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) Converting Knowledge into a Rational System

13. Medicine & the Enlightenment
Body as natural system that functioned predictably & rationally = it operated like a machine
Disease is a malfunction
Study of disease known as pathology
Blood circulation, inoculation, anatomy, microscopic anatomy

14. The Enlightenments Impact on History
Historical truth derives from objective review of the human record
Man evolves and progresses
Laws govern both heavenly & earthly matters
Laws give power to kings power rather than kings giving power to laws. Viva la France!
Law seen as a relationship between people
Increasing focus on individual liberty
Enlightenment sought reform of monarchy

15. The Pendulum Swings: Romanticism
Romantics view the Enlightenment
hyper rational
Dehumanizing
Emotionally restrictive
Superficial source of knowledge
Romantics critical of industrial revolution, middle class materialism
Celebrates the “I,” Nature, feeling & imagination
Belief in man’s innate goodness

16. THE NOBLE SAVAGE 18th C. – increased travel
Expansion of British Empire & colonialism
Europeans considered their civilization advanced”
They encountered the “noble savage ”
Reinforced notion of progress
Reinforced ideas of a universal moral sense inherent in man

17. The Deep Sea Cables by Rudyard Kipling 1896

18. Nearing the End: Fin de Siecle (The End of an Age)
Late Victorian reaction to rigid moral system
The approach of the 20th C.
Daring new styles, attitudes, behavior
Artists broke from moral constraints & emphasized spirituality, sensuality, love
Era that coined the terms homosexual, lesbian, heterosexual

19. ART FOR ART’S SAKE Life should copy art
Rebellion against Victorian morals
Defied notion that art had a moral or didactic purpose
Art is not utilitarian
valuable simply as art
need only be beautiful
Can be enjoyed apart from its representational subject matter
Concept is precursor to abstract art
Life should copy art
Whistler’s Nocturne in black & gold: the falling rocket
Whistler’s Nocturne in Black & Gold: The Falling Rocket