19th Century

							The West in the 19th Century

      The End of the West?
              and/or
     The Birth of the Modern?
             Introduction
• Were the achievements of the 19th
  century the pinnacle and culmination of
  Western culture?
• Do the developments of the 19th
  century mark the final decline and tragic
  end of Western culture?
          Topic Introduction
•   Mass Consumerism
•   Mass Politics
•   Mass Sport (Mass Leisure Culture)
•   Communications Revolution
•   Modern Science
•   Modern Art
•   Modern Philosophy
                 “Le Bon Marche”
                    (Trans. “The Good Deal”)
• “[the department store
  owner’s] sole passion was
  the conquest of Woman.
  He wanted her to be the
  queen in his shop. He had
  built this temple for her in
  order to hold her at his
  mercy. His tactics were to
  intoxicate her with
  amorous attentions, to
  trade on her desires, and
  to exploit her
  excitement…”
  (From “The Ladies’ Paradise”)
             Otto von Bismarck
• “Politics is the art of the
  possible.”
• “The great questions of the
  day will not be settled by
  means of speeches and
  majority decisions but by
  iron and blood.”
• Just for fun: “God watches
  over idiots, drunkards, and
  the United States of
  America”
Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee
             Pierre de Coubertin
•   “A country can truly call
    itself sporting when the
    majority of its people feel a
    personal need for sport.”
•   “For each individual, sport is
    a possible source for inner
    improvement.”
•   “May joy and good
    fellowship reign, and in this
    manner, may the Olympic
    Torch pursue its way
    through ages, increasing
    friendly understanding
    among nations, for the good
    of a humanity always more
    enthusiastic, more
    courageous and more pure.”
         Samuel B. Morse
• “What God hath
  Wrought”
Turner “Rain, Steam, and
     Speed” (1844)
            Charles Darwin
• “I have called this
  principle, by which
  each slight variation,
  if useful, is
  preserved, by the
  term of Natural
  Selection.”
• “Man is descended
  from a hairy, tailed
  quadruped, probably
  arboreal in its
  habits.”
   Seligmann,
“German Surgeon
Theodor Billroth at
 Work in Vienna”
     (1890)
Emile Zola
     • “I am little concerned
       with beauty or
       perfection. I don't
       care for the great
       centuries. All I care
       about is life,
       struggle, intensity.”
     • “If you ask me what
       I came into this life
       to do, I will tell you:
       I came to live out
       loud.”
Monet “Impression: Sunrise” 1874
Van Gogh “Starry Night” 1889
Kandinsky “Composition VII”
          (1913)
Friedrich Nietzsche
          • “There are no eternal facts,
            as there are no absolute
            truths. There are no facts,
            only interpretations. There
            are no moral phenomena
            at all, but only a moral
            interpretation of
            phenomena.”
          • “God is dead…”
       Gaugin (1897)
“Where Do We Come From?
What Are We? Where Are We
         Going?”
 Coach Lerch’s Final Thoughts
• During the 19th century, all remaining aspects of
  the modern world come into being in the West
• These, like the other isms, spread out and
  influence the entire world in the 20th century
• What is the sum effect of these changes on the
  West? (Is it a good thing or not?)