--Wald der Asiatisch
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
The Turn of the 19th Century
The period of time in America around the late 18th century and early 19th century was one of tremendous change, in both the structure of society and the ideas of thinkers and philosophers. Much of the change was due the the Industrial Revolution, which unleashed a flood of new ideas and inventions upon the people of the United States. Suddenly, once difficult tasks and chores could be done in much less time using much less work. These technological advents allowed much more time for people to think and philosophize. Furthermore, many important and revolutionary scientific breakthroughs were made during the 19th century, arguably the most notable being Darwin's work on evolution. The publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859 completely changed the way that people looked at life, religion, and nearly everything about the world around us. Secularism become more prominent as people were forced to rethink their own existence. In short, the zeitgeist of the 19th century might best be described as simply: change.
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Obviously, change was the center of things. What do you think that such a world was doing to the people of the time? What did they feel as they faced such changes? What might be said to be happening to the fabric of society? You address this kind of think in the ideas that you point out with Darwin's work, and so I guess we can let that stand for the whole of society. It is certainly a fascinating time period.
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