I.
Uncertainty
in modern thought
A.
Remember
Enlightenment (Age of Reason) – certainty, science, “for-suredness”,
figure out universe and apply mathematical laws
B.
Enlightenment
– optimistic views on figuring out scientific laws, rational human mind,
progress of civilization
C.
Well,
WWI rocks everybody’s world (followed by Great Depression/hunger/poverty,
dictators)
D.
Disillusionment
in writers (“The Lost Generation”). Or,
WWI has great psychological fallout
II.
Friedrich
Nietzche
A.
Paints
a dark world where he challenges established ideas (belief in progess)
B.
Said
West was hung up on rationality and stifled passion of humanity (which makes us
great)
C.
Said
“God is dead.” He was atheist but he’s really talking about ho-hum Christians.
D.
Said
morality stifles man from being a hero.
E.
Said
the only way out, is to embrace the meaninglessness of it all, then by latching
onto that, he can become liberated and become a super-hero..
F.
Influenced
everyone from hippies to Hitler.
III.
Others
A.
Henri
Bergson – said impulsive and intuition were as important as science
B.
Georges
Sorel
1.
said
Marxism was a religion
2.
said “let’s all go on strike! That’ll
fuel socialism!”
IV.
Two
isms
A.
Logical
empiricism – English speaking countries
1.
led
by Ludwig Wittgenstein
2.
rejected
old concerns of philosophy (like existence of God, morality as blah blah blah because they’re just
one person’s views and they cannot be tested by science or math)
3.
“Of
what one cannot speak, of that one must keep silent.”
4.
So,
on “untestable” things, people were left without
certainty
B.
existentialism
– European continent
1.
mostly
atheists
2.
hard
to nail down their beliefs, b/c they don’t believe in hardly anything
3.
led by Jean Paul Sartre who said of
people, “They turn up, appear on the scene.”
4.
Then
people seek to define something, are helpless (no God) like a ship lost at sea,
it’s all meaningless
5.
But,
since man’s free to do anything in this meaningless world, man should give
meaning to life through his actions.
Thereby, he’ll overcome the absurdity of it all.
C.
Bottom
line – logical empiricists can’t prove things, existentialist don’t believe in
anything.
V.
It’s
high time for a good ol’ revival! Amen!
A.
With
people’s faiths so shaken, they return to the Christian faith
B.
Enlightened
times – many “thinkers” were embarrassed by supernatural aspects of Jesus and
played them down. They simply weren’t
rational
C.
After
WWI – return to fundamentals of Christianity – man is a sinner, needs faith in
Christ to overcome sin
VI.
New
Physics – rocks everyone’s world
A.
atoms
are not hard little balls, but they’re full of action (Marie Curie)
B.
Max
Planck – “quanta”—little spurts of energy; called into question relationship of
matter and energy
C.
Albert
Eisnstein – theory of relativity said time and space
are all relative to the observer
D.
Ernest
Rutherford – split 1st atom
E.
Werner
Heisenberg – “principle of uncertainty” – impossible to know position and speed
of electron and therefore impossible to predict its behavior
VII.
More
new stuff
A.
Psychology
-- Sigmund Freud -- people do things because of unconscious motivations (sex
and violence)
B.
Literature
1.
Disillusionment
– Remarque All Quiet…Front, Hemingway
Farewell to Arms, Sun Also Rises
2.
“Stream of Consciousness” writing – machine
gun writing