AP 601 - Modern Mind: Final Exam
Define "modernization" and list major influences of modernization.
Defined: anonymous, long-term structural forces. - Universal education and growth in literacy - Rationalization of thought & behavior - Economic commodification - Social differentiation & fragmentation - "Societalization": organizing our lives, not locally, but "societally"
What was the "dialectic" of the Enlightenment?
"Reason would free us from dogmatism and authoritarianism." Response: As Adorno pointed out, that which seemed hopeful actually led to further corruption. The Dialectic of the Enlightenment only lead to a new type of absolutism and tyranny.
Describe the Peasant's War and its possible impact on modernity.
- 1524-25: a shift from feudalism - a series of local uprisings as peasants reacted against feudal law with Roman law & customs - some consider this the beginning of political revolution
Who was Immanuel Kant?
- 1724-1804, Germany - raised in Pietism, Romanticism, & rationalism - chair of logic and mathematics @ U. of Koenigsberg - Believed "reason" had limits, and one must employ faith & "moral reason" to know what can't be known by reason alone. - Applied his theory of knowing the noumenal to knowing God.
Who was Friedrich Schiller and how did he diagnose the French Revolution?
- 1759-1805, German poet - depicted the ideals of Romanticism ("Ode to Joy") & offered a critique of the French Revolution ("On the Aesthetic Education of Man") - Society seemed to split (no longer be cohesive) and as a result, individuals began to have internal identity crises. - Civilization itself inflicted this wound. The "machinery" of the state was to blame. - Romanticism, in adopting Kantian philosophy and its idea of the moral law within, raised the moral bar too high.
Who was Friedrich Schleiermacher?
- 1768-1834, entered the stage of Berlin Romanticism - Rose as a theological voice, specifically through "The Wednesday Society". - Influenced by his roommate Schlegel to incorporate the pursuit of sexuality for understanding life. - Pushed beyond art (Schiller) and sexuality (Schlegel) in believing that religion was the ultimate redemptive force for culture and how one might develop an intuition of the cosmos.
Who was G. W. F. Hegel?
- 1770-1831, German philosopher - Thesis: Our deepest human need is to experience ourselves as agents. - His theory of subjectivity sought to answer the question, "What does it mean to be human?" - Tried to narrate a pantheistic history of the world, "a biographer of the absolute". - In his "meta-narrative" approach to history, he was searching for collective human subjectivity (the Spirit of collective consciousness).
Peter J. Taylor's 3 "Modernities" (1999)
- 17c. Dutch Republic (Peace of Westphalia, 1648) - 18-19th c. Britain (Congress of Vienna, 1815) - 20th c. America (post-WWI, 1918)
Who was D. F. Strauss and why was he significant?
- 1808-1874, German theologian - used "German political theology" to support the idea of a monarchy since it was being threatened. - One pioneer of form criticism, using the idea of myth-making strategies to explain how religion has been created. He believed the myths of the Bible got out of control and formed the church. - His pursuit to "demythologize" the Bible threatened the top-down control of religious revivals, and ultimately, posed a threat to the monarchy. - After being removed from his post by the government (and the church) for his liberal theology & politics, he moved into journalism. - Strauss and many other liberal theologians-now-journalists consequently fueled the secularization of Europe by the 1850s.
Who was Soren Kierkegaard?
- 1813-1855, Denmark, theologian - contemporary of Strauss, Marx, and Dostoyevsky; pre-Nietzsche - quirky personality intentionally cultivated through his personal journals - Fostered the intention to make Christianity more difficult (since he felt he had nothing to add), and later in life attacked Christendom. - In criticizing culture, he turned to existentialism (emphasizing God's transcendence). - In criticizing religion, he cast himself as a Socratic healer.
Who was Elizabeth C. Stanton?
- 1815-1902, 1st wave feminist, NY - abolitionist and women's rights activist - co-founded women's conference, "Civil and Political Rights of Women", 1848, NY - published a declaration of independence for women - "Solitude" as a human right ("the Solitude of the Self [1892]")
Who was Karl Marx?
- 1818-1883, German, philosopher & social theorist between the 2nd and 3rd wave of modernity - Sought to resolve a synthesis of the Humanist & Positivist poles of Marxism (freedom & determinism) - Believed there was an inherent economic factor to Hegel's theory of subjectivity - The conditions of labor (one's occupation) were responsible for the failure of subjectivity (in the Hegelian sense, i.e. becoming "at home in the world") - Practically speaking: in an assembly line, the laborer has no connection with the completed product of his labor, and may receive too little a paycheck to even afford his own product.
Who was Friedrich Nietzsche?
- 1844-1900, Germany - lived through the German Revolution (1848) and saw Germany formed as a modern nation. - serves as a medic in the military during the Franco-Prussian War - professor of philosophy at Basel, Switzerland - grew up enjoying Romanticism - theology student, but drops out, is heavily influenced reading Schopenhauer's "The World as Will and Representation" -- the essence of the world is the "will" (dark, vital instincts) ergo: not of reason or logic but survival.
Who was Sigmund Freud?
- 1856-1939, Austria, Jewish family, neurologist who offered a new "theory of the mind" - studied hypnosis & hysteria (1890s) after Charcot posited that hysteria did not have a physical cause but was associated with the mind. - concluded that 1) traumatic memories cause hysteria, 2) talking through traumatic memories can bring about cures. - 1899, published "The Interpretation of Dreams" to explain how dreams provide a window to the unconscious as the tensions of our life are released in and through dreams. - Later, developed a "hermeneutic of suspicion" whereby everything meant something (seen esp. in "Dora"). - Would move on to apply his theories to everyone (not just hysterics).
Who was Max Weber?
- 1864 - 1920, German, social theorist - Considered how human behavior may be influenced by law-like features in society. - applied Kantian philosophy in his thesis: Our perception of knowledge (epistemology) comes from fixed, universal categories within our own micro-community. - Capitalism without "Calvinism" (i.e. a religious framework) creates a disenchanted world.
Who was George Lukacs, and what was his contribution to critical theory?
- 1885-1972, Hungary, student of M. Weber - His major work "History and Class Consciousness (1923)" sought to revive Hegel's theory of subjectivity and apply it to Marxist ideology (the drama of alienation).
Who was Karl Barth and what was his aim regarding Protestant liberalism & Reformed theology?
- 1886-1968, Switzerland - Theology prof. @ U. of Gottingen then @ U. of Bonn - Attempted to re-center both protestant liberalism & Reformation theology along a radical Christology.
Who was Walter Benjamin?
- 1892-1940, German philosopher, "The Frankfurt School" - Popular literary critic and culture critic (esp. seen in his work "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproducibility" 1936). - Applied culture criticism to history in order to understand the idea of "revolution" through two new models of time. - Theorized how industrialization impacted art.
Who was Theodore Adorno?
- 1903-1969, German philosopher, "The Frankfurt School" - accomplished musician who critiqued "mass culture" and "culture industry" (esp. seen in his work "Fetish Character in Music and Regression of Listening" 1938).
Who was Simone Beauvoir and what was her driving thesis?
- 1908-1986, France - towering figure of 2nd Wave Feminism - Thesis: anti-essentialist doctrine, "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman"; Women are the other." i.e existence precedes essence.
Who was Martin Luther King Jr.?
- 1929-1968, Baptist minister, GA - Involved in the Civil Rights Movement through Rosa Parks (Dec. 1955) and the bus boycott. - Founded and led the Souther Christian Leadership Conference (1957) as a platform for the black church's voice in the Civil Rights Movement. - Adapted Gandhi's pacifism and applied it to Christianity.
Who was James Cone?
- 1938-2018, AK, theologian, PhD - prof. @ Union Theological Seminary - Pioneered black liberation theology (esp. seen in "A Black Theology of Liberation", 1970). - He centered his theology on the cross in order to make sense of human suffering.
Define "secularization" and the Secularization thesis.
- A (mostly inadvertent) process of internal and external change to religion that comes about as a result of modernization. - Thus, secularization is not = with "secularism" or the disappearance of religion. - Secularization Thesis: the forces of modernization encourage the secularization of the church.
How did Theodore Adorno approach Critical Theory?
- Adorno applied culture criticism particularly to music. - Thesis: When music becomes artificially produced for our consumption (as is culture on a large scale), the individuality of music (and culture) is sacrificed. - Result: This "aesthetic culture" leads to the mass infantilization of the subject. - Solution: We must resist the commercialization of culture and the freedom of art by making art alienating and disturbing.
How did Kant push beyond reason and apply this to knowing God?
- Believed reason could have access to the noumenal (a thing unable to be experienced, a thing in itself [essence]) through morality. - This "moral/practical reasoning" is an innate principle within us and can represent to ourselves through symbols what can't be known by reason alone. - Therefore, through reason we can know God via the moral law within us. - It also logically followed that if one obeyed the moral law they ought to be rewarded by God, ergo: afterlife.
Describe Kierkegaard's cultural criticism of the Modern Age and his solution.
- Categorized three forms of life people take in Modern culture: hedonist, skeptic, and despair. - Categorized three main qualities of Romanticist culture: rationalistic, aesthetic, and voyeristic. - Was convinced the whole 19th c. was "sick" (i.e. with sin and despair: alienation from self). - Believed modern thinkers had the wrong goals of resolving tensions (in ourselves and society), as it opposed "passionate self-hood" which requires tension & tragedy. - In criticizing culture, he turns to existentialism (emphasizing God's transcendence). - He used religion and morality as the cure of the "sickness" of Modern culture, enabling one to reach selfhood (individuality).
How did George Lukacs apply Hegel's theory of subjectivity?
- He applied it to Marxist ideology, focusing the agency of change from the elites to the working class. - Thesis: Commodity fetishism has alienated the working class (and for capitalism, everyone under its society) from recognizing their agency, and has even deformed their agency. - Solution: The working class must be woken up to realize its agency as the prime movers of history and thus incite revolution.
How did Walter Benjamin apply culture criticism to history?
- He searched for revolutionary inspiration from the past (the spirits which animate cultural movements). - "Where does Revolution come from, the top-down or bottom-up?" - He re-imagined time in forming two models: 1) Historicist temporality: "empty time", a succession of ordinary events 2) Revolutionary temporality: "now time", a violent stopping of historical time.
Describe Kierkegaard's construction of religion.
- He used religion and morality as the cure of the "sickness" of Modern culture, enabling one to be able to reach selfhood (individuality). - We must acknowledge our dependence on God in order to discover our personality (individuality). Failing to do so results in despair (identical with sin, the alienation from self). - In constructing religion he cast himself as a Socratic healer, believing that the process of becoming a Christian is more important than the objective truth of Christianity. - The "what" of Christianity needs to be accessed through the "how" (from personality formation to doctrine).
What were some central ideals of Friedrich Schleiermacher, and why was he significant?
- He was a third voice on religion among Kant & Hegel. - He did not believe religion was about deeds (Kant) or thoughts (Hegel) but sensation & feeling, i.e. being a different kind of person which pursued harmony with his surroundings & virtuosity (mastery of one's craft). - He developed his theological beliefs as an apologetic to "The Wednesday Society", particularly in his work "On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers (1799)." - Saw Jesus as the ultimate virtuoso. - Not all, but much of his thought on religion is seen today [where?].
How did 2nd Wave Feminism re-introduce Hegel?
- Interested in theorizing the dramatic opposition of God & Man - Applied this opposition "horizontally" to theorize the opposition of Man & Nature, then onto social implications. - "The problem of the other": -- Male - female. "Man can think of himself without woman. She cannot think of herself without man." -- The problem of "inter-subjectivity": exercising one's agency on other people who are exercising their own agency... -- ...inevitably creates conflict, since there is always a chasm between the self and the other. -- Sex & gender: sex as biological and gender as cultural norm.
Compare how Kant & Hegel were two strands of modern thought.
- Kant: "Let's philosophize so long as it helps us pursue a moral life." - Hegel: highly speculative ( and thus not as practical as Kant) and gives the kind of reasonable explanation that is "totalizing". - Kant: rational man using myths (stories and religion) to understand all truth. - Hegel: "the divinization of man", agents seeking synthesis with the divine (Jesus as the prototype of this absolute synthesis).
How was Hegel applied throughout the "Modern Mind"?
- Karl Marx: economics & the failure of subjectivity - Karl Barth: a new ontological thesis "actualism" & theology - George Lukacs: critical theory & commodity fetishism - 2nd wave feminism: the female as the "other"
How did MLK apply the his ideas of pacifism and suffering?
- King transformed Gandhi's idea of non-violence by applying it to the New Testament, concluding that love is not passive by an active force. - Solution to injustice: non-violence with active love. - Believed moral persons have a duty to disobey unjust laws ("civil disobedience"). - 1 Peter 2, Jesus' redeeming work set an example for how we should suffer. - Non-violent suffering as redemptive. - as applied to humanity and subjectivity, hate rejects while love embraces.
How did the black church of America apply the theme of "suffering" to identity & subjectivity?
- Less relation with Israel in conquest and more with Israel in bondage and exile. - Enduring suffering empowers one to affirm their own identity. - The embrace of love allows one to maintain their humanity and subjectivity. - Hate surrenders its subjectivity.
Describe the variety of Marxist thought throughout its history.
- Marxism can be distinguished as an intellectual tradition and a dogmatic, practical tradition. - In the West, Marxism thrived as an intellectual tradition as it functioned as a critical theory of culture. - Marxism in the West can be known as the "Humanist" pole, as it emphasizes freedom & utopia as the highest ideal. - In socialist countries, Marxism lost its intellectual tradition and became only dogmatic/practical. - Marxism in the East can be know as the "Positivist" pole, as it focuses on economic determinism and idealized laws for economic development.
Who were among "a generation of geniuses (1510-1520)" which impacted the beginning of modernity?
- Michaelangelo (1512) - Raphael (1512) - Machiavelli (1513) - Copernicus (1514) - Luther (1517)
How did Kant distinguish "pure" and "practical" reason, and what were the three main categories of symbols regarding "practical reason"?
- Pure reasoning is like reasoning in a vacuum while practical reasoning is like reasoning via symbols. - Practical reason has a moral component drawn from the moral law written on our hearts. - Pure reasoning can only get us so far until we have to turn to moral reasoning using stories and symbols to make sense of the world. - Symbols: historical narratives, liturgies & institutions, and rational principles.
In the late 1700s & early 1800s, how did Romanticism wage war against Idealism?
- Romanticism became popular as an ideal which intentionally warred against systems, thus producing a series of new genres of literature based on the notion of aphorisms ("we can only come to a fragment of the truth"). - Schlegel defined Romanticism as the synthesis of passion & reason. - Romanticism was subsequently incorporated into the culture, being backed by the government.
What was Hegel's theory of subjectivity?
- Sought to answer the question, "What does it mean to be human?" - Four phases of human subjectivity: "A Story of Becoming" 1) Come to consciousness of the world as alien to you. 2) Exercise your agency on the world. 3) The world mirrors back to you your agency. 4) You then become and feel at home in the world.
What was Sigmund Freud's "Oedipus Complex" theory?
- The Oedipus Complex described the spawning of the Super Ego in man and how men create a "self". - Presupposition: Social embeddedness is the context in which we become ourselves, i.e. we acquire selfhood in social arrangements. - The initial field (social arrangement) is the family. - Thesis: The Oedipus Complex is when a (male) baby sees his father as a rival and internalizes this threat.
Describe the ending of the Byzantine Empire and its possible impact on modernity.
- The Ottomans conquered Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire (May 29, 1453). - Scribes & scholars then fled West with their Greek books (Plato, Ptolemy, etc.) - The U. of Paris subsequently began offering Greek courses (1458), - A new fascination with languages arose in the wake of Gutenberg's printing press (1439).
How did the black church of America apply the theme of "suffering" to theology?
- The cross as real, historical event, but also as a symbol of the defeat of death. - The gospel is seen in poor and suffering people struggling for justice. - Non-violent suffering as redemptive. - Redemption applied not only to sin but also social advancements (e.g. voting rights).
How did Walter Benjamin apply culture criticism to art?
- Theorized how industrialization impacted art. - Thesis: The mechanical reproducibility of art through industrialization is a positive thing for at least three reason: 1) Art is designed for reproducibility in order to be consumed. 2) It breaks down the "aura" of art as sacred. 3) This all makes the agent/subject/ (viewer) active, contra prior when agents were merely passive observers.
How did Simone Beauvoir play out her driving thesis?
- Thesis: "One is not born, but rather becomes a woman", i.e existence precedes essence. - One creates their essence by the choices they make, specifically through creativity. - Problem posed: What women can become has been controlled by a society as society affects the options available. i.e. Women are socialized into gender roles. - The problem of being the "female" other is transcultural (everywhere). - Result: She helps make explicit the distinction between sex & gender, since they relate to cultural norms.
Explain Weber's diagnosis of Modernity and his proposed solution.
- Thesis: We are governed by an "intellectual rationalization mentality" (Science as Vocation, 153), i.e. a "means-end" rationality. - Weber's diagnosis of Modernity was "disenchantment"... in principle we could know everything, but in practice know nothing. We increase in possible knowledge while actual knowledge is in decline. - This disenchanted world (aroused by efficiency without goals) is without values. - While the church is there to provide one with values, it is only for the intellectually weak as it was built from an uncivilized past. - Solution: Create one's own values and pursue them with a "Nietzschen" fortitude.
What is the "universalist egalitarian principle" of 1st Wave Feminism?
- Thesis: Women are fundamentally human, as are men, therefore women ought to enjoy the "human" rights which have only been exclusive to men. - Sparked in the French Revolution as women were side by side with the men in the barricades fighting for liberty and equality. - The fight for suffrage and wages were two initial concerns among 1st Wave Feminists (see Elizabeth C. Stanton in the US).
Explain how Sigmund Freud "mapped the mind" and the development of this theories.
- We acquire selfhood in our social arrangements. - Particularly seen in his work "The Ego and the Id" (1923) - Freud's working thesis: Since the self is dynamic and inherently fragmented, the highest ideal of life is one of coping. - Three categories of the subconscious: Id (pleasure drive), the Ego (subjectivity proper), the Super Ego (authoritative conscience). - Morality exists as the Super Ego presides over the Ego. - There are various drives in us which develop our morality (e.g. the incest taboo limits the pleasure drive, and the love drive limits the death drive). - Late Freud: the "death drive" instilled in all of us from human origin is the root of all social disharmony and suggests that the aim of all of life is death.
Summarize four main conclusions regarding the transition from the ancient world to modernity.
- a complete reorientation of space and time excited many but terrified others (due to the Julian calendar reflecting a heliocentric view) - growing tension with the ancient world in using reason, observations, and criticism to challenge ancient thought - a decline with an overtly theological orientation with the world - by 1680, the basic features of modernity were in place
Developments of 20th c. American modernity
- economic shift from productivity to consumption - rise of management culture - development of suburban life
Describe Nietzsche's philosophy and it's impact.
- his work "A Birth of Tragedy" (1872) shows himself to be part of the Romantic tradition, and demonstrates his preference to tragedy through his interest in Dionysius, the ancient Greek god of chaos. - gave up on Strauss' "myth-making" theory and gave in to the natural animal cruelty of life. -- criticizes Christianity's idea of morality, seeing their piety merely as a means of revenge against the strong, thus: a religion of low self-esteem. - his growing interest in reincarnation led him to rest in creativity as the means to overcome a presuppositional life and know truth. - he was "metaphysically ironic", understanding there is no meaning to life but living as if there is, which is how many people admit to living today.
Developments of 18-19th c. British modernity
- industrial capitalism - the cult of progress - comforts of the middle-class
Developments of 17th c. Dutch Republic modernity
- mercantile capitalism - international law - nations as state - celebration of ordinary life
Cultural factors contributing to the origin of modernity
- the ending of the Byzantine Empire (May 29, 1453) - "a generation of geniuses" (1510-1520) - The Peasant's War (1524-1525)
Six themes of "The Modern Mind"
- the story of the self: from subject to structure to post-structure, asking, "what does it mean to be human?" - the fate of theology as a discipline - political theology: religious analogies explaining social life - alterity: the problem of "the other/other-ness" - the rise of the therapeutic: the influence of psychoanalysis - modernity: self-preoccupation
What were some implications of Barth's radical Christology?
1) He synthesized divine solidarity and human dignity, and thus revised divine election: Election is about God's "yes" overcoming his "no". Through Christ, every human has God as father and Christ as redeemer. 2) He developed a new ontological thesis: "actualism" - "One has their being in action (a return to Hegel)." - as applied to God: the incarnation is God's action of being. - as applied to election: the decree of election is a function of God's Trinitarian existence, i.e. constituent.
List common objections to the Secularization Thesis and respond.
1) The rise of charismatic Christianity: response: Many charismatics are drawn from other Christian denominations. Thus, this movement may actually support the secularization thesis. 2) The rise of New Age religions: response: Many New Agers are "traveling consumers", drawn from other religious backgrounds. 3) Increased longing for transcendence: response: This merely shows the impossibility of living within one's own "immanent frame".
What were the 3 things Karl Barth believe he accomplished for theology?
1) the proper study of anthropology (as an overflow from Christology). 2) a revision of divine impassibility: namely, God is immutable but "suffering from all eternity". 3) all theology as theodicy: namely, a consideration of human suffering.
What was Freud's legacy?
He created the modern conception of the self: - Self is not one thing - Self is complex, not simple - Self is dynamic and fluid - Self is tending toward fragmentation and dissolution - Self is social not just individual A shift from confession to therapy: - Therapists replaced priests
Summarize Soren Kierkegaard's theological thesis.
He was not interested in the Pelagian-Augustinian categories, but rather looked outside them in saying that Christ constitutes an ethical love relationship between God and man.
What is the theme of Marx & Weber's social theories?
Understanding the predicament & paradox of modernity - i.e. that with extraordinary development and progress there arises within humans more anxiety and aimlessness.