I.               Modern Philosophy

A.     Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

1.     Considered an important forerunner of existentialism

2.     Expressed contempt for middle-class morality, saying that it led to a false and shallow existence

3.     Argued that conventional notions of good and evil are only relevant for the ordinary person

4.     Rejected reason and embraced the irrational

5.     Believed that the “will-to-power” of a few heroic “supermen” could successfully reorder the world

B.     Existentialism: Key Ideas

1.     Reason and science are incapable of providing insight into the human situation.

2.     God, reason, and progress are myths; humans live in a hostile world, alone and isolated.

3.     This condition of loneliness is a challenge and a call to action. Men and women give meaning to their lives thorough their choices. A person is therefore the sum of his or her actions and choices.

C.     Key Existentialism: Key Thinkers

a.     Jean-Paul Sarte: Being and Nothingness

b.     Albert Camus: The Stranger

II.             The New Psychology

A.     Before Freud

1.     Romantic artists and authors had explored the inner worlds of emotion and imagination.

2.     Professional psychologists assumed that human behavior was based upon rational decisions by the conscious mind.

B.     Sigmund Freud: 1856-1939

1.     Theories

a.     Freud believed that the human psyche includes three distinct parts, which he called the id, the superego, and the ego.

b.     The id consists of inborn sexual and aggressive urges.

c.      The superego acts as the conscience that seeks to repress the id. It develops as children learn their culture’s moral values.

d.     When the superego checks the pleasure-seeking impulses of the id, it drives them into the realm of the subconscious mind. The subconscious is the irrational and recognizes no ethical restrictions.

e.     The ego is the center of reason. It attempts to find a balance between the conflicting demands of the id and the superego.

2.     Implications

a.     Freud’s theories undermined the Enlightenment’s belief that humans are fundamentally rational beings. Instead, humans are irrational beings capable of destroying themselves and society.

b.     Freud’s emphasis upon the power of uncontrolled irrational and unconscious drives provided an unsettling explanation for seemingly incomprehensible horrors unleashed by WWI.

c.      Freud’s studies of the world of the unconscious mind had a significant influence on modern art and literature.