 |
|
Western Civilization II page. |
- A CONTRIBUTING CAUSE FOR CREATING THE CLIMATE FOR WAR WAS PROVIDED BY THE INTELLECTUAL CURRENTS OF THE DAY.
- IN 1859, CHARLES DARWIN, A BIOLOGIST, PUBLISHED HIS ORIGIN OF SPECIES THAT SHOOK THE VICTORIAN AGE VIEW OF THE WORLD.
(1) IN IT, HE DEVELOPED THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION.
(2) SPECIES, IN NATURE, EVOLVE THROUGH A CEASELESS COMPETITION FOR SURVIVAL AMONG LIVING THINGS. THIS WAS THE DOCTRINE OF SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.
(3) NATURE COULD THUS BE SEEN AS BLIND LIFE-AND-DEATH STRUGGLE, WITHOUT REFERENCE TO ANY MORALITY.
- DARWIN'S WORK HAD A PROFOUND IMPACT ON THE WAY PEOPLE VIEWED THEIR LIVES.
- OUT OF DARWIN'S BIOLOGICAL DISCOVERIES, THERE GREW THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL DARWINISM (HERBERT SPENCER), WHICH HE DID NOT ENDORSE.
(1) SOCIAL DARWINISM VIEWED MAN'S CULTURE, HIS POLITICS, ECONOMICS, AND ETHNIC GROUP AS A BIOLOGICAL ORGANISM SUBJECT TO THE LAW OF SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.
(2) CAPITALISM, OF THE LAISSEZ FAIRE VARIETY, COULD BE JUSTIFIED AS "DOG-EAT-DOG."
(3) NATIONALISM COULD NOW BE EXCESSIVE BECAUSE NATIONS THAT WERE THE FITTEST COULD SURVIVE. MILITARY FORCE WAS A MEANS OF PROVING ONE'S RIGHT TO SURVIVE.
(4) FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE MAINTAINED THAT CERTAIN ETHNIC GROUPS WERE MADE UP OF "SUPERIOR" PEOPLE AND THAT ONLY THEY WERE FIT TO EXIST. THE "SUPERMAN" WAS ABOVE RIGHT AND WRONG AND THUS DID NOT HAVE TO JUSTIFY HIS BEHAVIOR.
(5) ENGLISHMEN SAW THEMSELVES AS THE MOST EVOLVED AND FELT THEY HAD THE "WHITE MAN'S BURDEN" TO "CIVILIZE" (MAKE LITTLE ENGLISHMEN OUT OF) THE AFRICANS, CHINESE AND INDIANS.
(6) GERMANS BEGAN TO PREACH THE DOCTRINE OF PAN-GERMANISM, WHILE THE RUSSIANS ADVOCATED PAN-SLAVISM.
- IN THE FIELD OF PHILOSOPHY, WILLIAM JAMES, AN AMERICAN, FOUNDED THE SCHOOL OF PRAGMATISM.
(1) ACCORDING TO JAMES "AN IDEA IS TRUE SO LONG AS TO BELIEVE IT IS PROFITABLE TO OUR LIVES." HE REJECTED ANY CONCEPT OF TRUTH OR REALITY AS ABSOLUTE.
(2) FOR MANY PRAGMATISTS, TRUTH BECAME IDENTICAL WITH SUCCESS.
- IN THE FIELD OF LITERATURE, WRITERS WERE INFLUENCED BY THE GROWING CULT OF SCIENCE AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF RATIONALISM.
(1) THEY REVOLTED AGAINST THE "ROMANTIC WORLD VIEW" OF WRITERS WHO BELIEVED THAT NATURE WAS DIVINE AND MANKIND NATURALLY GOOD.
(2) THEY ATTEMPTED TO PORTRAY LIFE AS IT REALLY WAS BY OFTEN GRAPHICALLY DESCRIBING SOCIAL, ECONOMIC, AND POLITICAL PROBLEMS THAT VICTORIAN ROMANTICS WOULD NEVER HAVE MENTIONED.
(3) FAMOUS EUROPEAN WRITERS OF THE REALIST SCHOOL WERE:
- GUSTAVE FLAUBERT - MADAME BOVARY (1821 - 1880).
- LEO TOLSTOY - WAR AND PEACE (1828 - 1910).
- FEODOR DOSTOEVSKY - CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
(1821 - 1881).
(4) AMERICAN REALISTS INCLUDED:
- MARK TWAIN.
- HERMAN MELVILLE.
- WALT WHITMAN.
(5) AS THE 19TH CENTURY ENDED, REALISM WAS GIVING WAY TO A SCHOOL OF WRITING CALLED NATURALISM.
- THESE WRITERS TRIED TO VIEW MAN AS THOUGH HIS EVERY ACTION WAS SCIENTIFICALLY DETERMINED BY HIS HEREDITY AND ENVIRONMENT.
- INFLUENCED BY DARWINISM, IT VIEWED MAN AS AN ANIMAL IN THE NATURAL WORLD WHOSE BEHAVIOR WAS BIOLOGICALLY DETERMINED (PREDICTABLE).
- HUMAN LIFE WAS A VICIOUS STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL, AND MAN WAS DRIVEN BY PRIMITIVE URGES SUCH AS FEAR, HUNGER, AND SEX. MAN IS VIEWED AS A VICTIM, AND THE OUTCOME OF HIS LIFE IS PESSIMISTIC.
- EMILE ZOLA (FROM FRANCE) WAS THE LEADING NATURALIST, WHILE JACK LONDON, UPTON SINCLAIR, AND THEODORE DREISER WERE LEADING AMERICAN NATURALISTS.
ART, MUSIC, POETRY
- AFTER 1870, THE WORK OF THE IMPRESSIONIST SCHOOL REACHED ITS GREATEST HEIGHT. THESE ARTISTS WORKED TO CAPTURE THE EFFECTS OF LIGHT AND COLOR. GREAT ARTISTS OF IMPRESSIONISM INCLUDED RENOIR AND MONET.
- NEO-IMPRESSIONISTS EMERGED AT THE END OF THE CENTURY AND INCLUDED CE_ANNE, VAN GOGH, AND GAUGUIN.
- ART, LIKE LIFE, WAS NOW TO BE COMPLEXLY UNDERSTOOD ON SEVERAL LEVELS OF MEANING.
- IN CONTRAST TO ART, ARCHITECTURE WAS NOT VERY INNOVATIVE THROUGH MOST OF THIS PERIOD.
- POETRY, LIKE PAINTING, BECAME A INCREASINGLY PRIVATE EXPRESSION INDIFFERENT TO CONVENTION AND INCREASINGLY OBSCURE IN MEANING.
- A MOVEMENT OF FRENCH POETS THAT SPREAD THROUGHOUT EUROPE WAS CALLED SYMBOLISM.
- MUSIC, LIKE ARE AND LITERATURE, SAW A REACTION AGAINST ROMANTICISM. IMPRESSION WAS ALSO REPRESENTED IN MUSIC WITH DEBUSSY AS A PRIME LEADER OF THIS SCHOOL.
EDUCATION (1860 - 1914)
- FOR THE FIRST TIME IN WESTERN HISTORY, A MAJORITY OF THE ADULT POPULATION COULD READ AND WRITE (IN THE MAJOR COUNTRIES OF EUROPE).
- BY 1900, MORE THAN 90% OF THE ADULT POPULATION OF GERMANY, FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN WERE LITERATE.
- MASS SCHOOLING WAS, HOWEVER, USUALLY LIMITED TO A FEW YEARS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.
- BY THE 1880S, ALL MAJOR GOVERNMENTS OF WESTERN EUROPE HAD MADE EDUCATION UNIVERSAL AND COMPULSORY.
- SECONDARY SCHOOLS BECAME DIVIDED INTO TWO GROUPS:
- NATURAL SCIENCES.
- HUMANISTIC STUDIES.
ECONOMIC CHANGES (1860 - 1914)
- THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY SAW WHAT HAS OFTEN BEEN CALLED "THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION." IT WAS CHARACTERIZED BY:
- RAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH.
- ACCELERATED INDUSTRIAL CHANGE, PARTICULARLY IN STEEL, CHEMICALS AND ELECTRICITY.
- GERMANY'S ECONOMY EXPANDED AT A MUCH GREATER RATE THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY.
- THE OLDER INDUSTRIAL ECONOMIES OF GREAT BRITAIN, BELGIUM AND FRANCE CONTINUED TO GROW, BUT AT A MUCH SLOWER RATE.
- THE PERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE MAKING THEIR LIVING FROM AGRICULTURE CONTINUED TO DECLINE, e.g., DOWN TO 8% IN GREAT BRITAIN BY W.W.I.
DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES (1860 - 1914)
- EUROPE'S POPULATION INCREASED FROM 300 MILLION IN 1870 TO 450 MILLION BY 1914.
- WHILE BIRTH RATES IN MANY EUROPEAN COUNTRIES BEGAN TO DECLINE, MORTALITY RATES WERE DECLINING MUCH FASTER.
(1) INFANT MORTALITY, IN PARTICULAR, WAS GREATLY REDUCED AS A RESULT OF BETTER DIET, IMPROVED SANITATION, ELIMINATION OF DEADLY DISEASES, e.g., TYPHUS, AND OVERALL IMPROVEMENT IN MEDICAL CARE.
- WORKERS FOLLOWED THE UPPER CLASS TREND TOWARD LATER MARRIAGES AND SMALLER FAMILIES.
MIGRATION
- BETWEEN 1870 AND 1914 NEARLY 30 MILLION EUROPEANS EMIGRATED OVERSEAS, WITH MORE THAN HALF GOING TO THE U.S. THIS WAS ENCOURAGED BY:
- BETTER WORK OPPORTUNITIES IN THE U.S. AS A RESULT OF UNEMPLOYMENT IN EUROPE.
- LARGER BOATS AND CHEAPER FARES.
- MORE PEOPLE LEFT GREAT BRITAIN THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, AND IRELAND LOST THE GREATEST AMOUNT OF PEOPLE IN PROPORTION TO HER POPULATION.
- AFTER 1890, THERE WAS A LARGE WAVE OF SOUTHERN EUROPEAN MIGRATION, ESPECIALLY FROM ITALY.
- THE RISE OF LARGE CITIES IN EUROPE AND THE U.S. CONTINUED.
- IN TIME, LARGE CITIES BECAME HEALTHIER AND CLEANER THAN THEY HAD BEEN IN THE FIRST INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
SOCIAL LEGISLATION
- THE MOST IMPORTANT SOCIAL CONSEQUENCE OF THE ECONOMIC SITUATION WAS THE INCREASING INTRODUCTION OF SOCIAL-SECURITY LEGISLATION.
- IN GERMANY, AT BISMARCK'S URGING, INCOME TAX INCREASED GREATLY ON THOSE WHO POSSESSED CAPITAL, WHICH LED TO LAWS THAT GUARANTEED ACCIDENT, OLD-AGE, AND HEALTH INSURANCE FOR MUCH OF THE WORKING POPULATION, INCLUDING LOW-INCOME WORKERS.
(1) OTHER MAJOR EUROPEAN POWERS, PARTICULARLY FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN, FOLLOWED GERMANY'S LEAD. THE U.S. WAS MUCH SLOWER IN ADOPTING SOCIAL LEGISLATION COMPARED TO WESTERN EUROPE.
- THE GROWTH OF SOCIALISM CONTINUED THROUGHOUT THE PERIOD 1870-1914. MANY OF THE SOCIALIST PARTIES WERE VERY VOCAL ABOUT THEIR AIMS, WHICH INCLUDED:
. ABOLITION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY.
. OPPOSITION TO COLONIALISM (IMPERIALISM).
. OPPOSITION TO MILITARISM.
. A DESIRE FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF THE LABORING CLASS.
- AS W.W.I. GREW NEARER, IT BECAME INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO OBTAIN A UNITED FRONT BASED ON SOCIALISM.
(1) NATIONALISM WAS BECOMING A MUCH MORE DOMINANT FORCE IN THE LIVES OF WORKERS.
MARXISM
- AFTER BEING EXILED FROM PRUSSIA IN 1843, KARL MARX WENT TO PARIS TO BEGIN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A LEADING THEORY OF THE 19TH CENTURY.
- HIS THEORY OF COMMUNISM WAS OUTLINED IN THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO WRITTEN JOINTLY WITH FRIEDRICH ENGELS AND PUBLISHED JUST BEFORE THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1848. AFTER THIS, MARX MOVED TO LONDON. IT WAS HERE IN 1867 THAT HE PUBLISHED DAS KAPITAL.
- MARX INSISTED THAT ANY SOCIETY RESTS FUNDAMENTALLY ON THE ORGANIZATION OF ITS ECONOMY.
- AS A DERIVATION OF THE DIALECTIC FROM THE GERMAN PHILOSOPHER HEGEL, i.e., THESIS VS. ANTI-THESIS WHICH LEADS TO A SYNTHESIS, MARX SAW THE THESIS AS THE CAPITALIST, THE ANTI-THESIS AS THE PROLETARIAT, AND THE SYNTHESIS BEING A CLASSLESS SOCIETY IN WHICH PEOPLE WOULD NOT BE FORCED INTO INEQUALITY REQUIRED FOR CAPITALIST PRODUCTION. IN THIS CLASSLESS SOCIETY, THE STATE (NATION) WOULD WITHER AWAY.
- MARX BELIEVED THAT THE SEEDS OF DESTRUCTION WERE INHERENT IN CAPITALISM, e.g., CAPITALISTS MUST COMPETE WITH EACH OTHER AND THUS ARE FORCED TO LOWER PRICES WHICH, IN TURN, REDUCED PROFITS. THIS HAS TWO EFFECTS:
(1) THE CAPITALISTS MUST EXPLOIT LABOR MORE HARSHLY, e.g., CUTTING WAGES.
(2) SMALL CAPITALISTS WILL FAIL, WHICH LEADS TO CONCENTRATION OF CAPITAL TO FEWER, WHILE MORE MEMBERS OF THE MIDDLE CLASS ARE DRIVEN INTO THE PROLETARIAT.
- CAPITALISM, THEREFORE, LAYS THE BASIS FOR SOCIALISM/COMMUNISM BY DEPRIVING ALL BUT A FEW OF PROPERTY.
- MARX AND ENGELS INTENDED TO BE LEADERS OF A POLITICAL AND SOCIAL MOVEMENT.
- THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL WAS FORMED IN 1864 IN LONDON BY A SMALL GROUP OF ENGLISH LABOR LEADERS. THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL, WHICH LASTED ONLY A FEW YEARS, WAS
INSTRUMENTAL IN DISSEMINATING MARXISM AND STRESSING THE NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AMONG WORKERS IN A PERIOD OF GROWING NATIONALISM.
SOCIALISM AND ANARCHISM
- BETWEEN 1870 AND W.W. I, SOCIALIST PARTIES BECAME AN IMPORTANT PART OF POLITICAL LIFE IN MOST MAJOR EUROPEAN COUNTRIES.
- MEMBERSHIP IN UNIONS SOARED, AND THE STRIKE BECAME A COMMON EXPRESSION OF SOCIAL PROTEST.
- DURING THIS PERIOD, A RADICAL WING OF SOCIALISM BECAME MORE PRONOUNCED, i.e., ANARCHISM.
- AMONG THE MOST FAMOUS ANARCHISTS WAS MIKHAIL BAKUNIN - A RUSSIAN WHO HAD BEEN A MEMBER OF MARX'S FIRST INTERNATIONAL.
- ANARCHISTS WERE OFTEN IN THE HEADLINES OF THE LATE 19TH CENTURY, HAVING ASSASSINATED THE TSAR OF RUSSIA, THE PRESIDENT OF FRANCE, THE PRIME MINISTER OF SPAIN, THE EMPRESS OF AUSTRIA, THE KING OF ITALY, AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.
- ANARCHISTS WON THEIR LARGEST FOLLOWING AMONG THE POOR, MANY OF WHOM FELT CRUSHED BY INDUSTRIALIZATION.
- ANARCHISTS WERE OPPOSED TO THE BUREAUCRACY OF THE STATE, TO MILITARISM, AND TO COLONIALISM.
CHRISTIAN CRITIQUE
- CHURCHES, BESIDES THE MARXISTS, SOCIALISTS, AND ANARCHISTS, REJECTED THE GROWING POWER OF THE STATE, ESPECIALLY IN EDUCATION AND WELFARE.
- THIS CONFLICT BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE WAS MOST BITTER IN FRANCE, ITALY, AND SPAIN.
- POPE LEO XIII, IN HIS SOCIAL ENCYCLICALS, ESPECIALLY RERUM NOVARUM, WARNED THE STATE AGAINST FAVORING ANY SINGLE CLASS AND VIEWING HUMAN BEINGS AS MERELY A MEANS TO PROFIT.
- HE ALSO RECOGNIZED THE RIGHT OF WORKERS TO ORGANIZE.
- AFTER THE TURN OF THE CENTURY, CONFLICTS BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE MODIFIED.