Glossary
Freud
Refers to the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud, which posited that the human mind is a battleground of conscious, subconscious, and unconscious forces, driving behavior through internal conflicts.
Example:
Understanding a character's irrational fears as stemming from repressed childhood trauma, as explored in a novel, would be applying Freudian psychology.
Modernism
A broad cultural movement that emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rejecting traditional norms and embracing innovation, experimentation, and a focus on inner experiences.
Example:
Pablo Picasso's cubist paintings, which broke from traditional representational art, are a prime example of Modernism in the visual arts.
Naturalism
An extension of Realism that applied scientific observation and objectivity to human behavior and society, believing that environment and heredity determined actions.
Example:
A novel exploring how a character's impoverished upbringing and genetic predispositions lead to their struggles with addiction would be an example of Naturalism.
Nietzsche
Refers to the philosophical ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche, who challenged Enlightenment rationality by arguing that humans also need heroism, emotion, ecstasy, and artistic expression to achieve their full potential.
Example:
Nietzsche's concept of the 'will to power' suggests that human actions are driven by a fundamental desire for strength and self-overcoming, rather than purely rational thought, a key aspect of Nietzschean philosophy.
Quantum Mechanics
A scientific theory developed in the early 20th century that describes the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic levels, challenging the classical idea of an objective, absolute reality.
Example:
The famous 'Schrödinger's Cat' thought experiment, where a cat in a box is simultaneously dead and alive until observed, illustrates the counter-intuitive nature of quantum mechanics and the role of the observer.
Realism
A 19th-century artistic and literary movement that reacted against Romanticism by depicting life as it actually was, focusing on unidealized and often gritty aspects.
Example:
Gustave Courbet's painting The Stone Breakers exemplifies Realism by showing the harsh, unromanticized labor of common workers.
Relativity
Albert Einstein's theories (special and general relativity) that revolutionized physics by proposing that space and time are not absolute but are relative to the observer's motion, further challenging Newtonian physics and objective reality.
Example:
The idea that time can pass differently for two observers moving at different speeds, as depicted in science fiction, is a direct consequence of Einstein's theory of relativity.