Over the past century, Sigmund Freud’s oeuvre has been the subject of intense study and debate by psychologists, psychoanalysts, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, literary and cultural critics, philosophers and, of course, historians. Freud’s Civilization and Its Discontents is no exception. For historians, one fruitful line of inquiry is Freud’s critique of Western society, and in particular, its development over the long nineteenth century. In addition to Freud being one of the most important intellectuals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, his Civilization and Its Discontents reflects the views of a European intellectual who lived through the second half of the nineteenth century, the First World War and its aftermath.
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Mary Shelly uses the character of Victor Frankenstein to show just how much damage can be wrought when people muddle with what they don’t understand and what should be left alone. At the end of the book Frankenstein is a broken man who has lost all of his hopes, dreams, and love. He states multiple times to his fellow natural philosopher Walton, to not make the same mistakes that he did. If anything Frankenstein hopes that he can prevent another person to going down the path that he did and save them the misery. Frankenstein tell Walton this: “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.” Another form of modernity that we discussed throughout this class is …show more content…
Historical materialism is looking at history through the eyes of economics and production and looking at how these two things impacted individuals and shaped the events of history. Marx and Engels were the first people to propose this view of economic history and this understanding is still vital to how many historians interpret historical events. Production is the mechanism for change in
Mary Shelly uses the character of Victor Frankenstein to show just how much damage can be wrought when people muddle with what they don’t understand and what should be left alone. At the end of the book Frankenstein is a broken man who has lost all of his hopes, dreams, and love. He states multiple times to his fellow natural philosopher Walton, to not make the same mistakes that he did. If anything Frankenstein hopes that he can prevent another person to going down the path that he did and save them the misery. Frankenstein tell Walton this: “Learn from me, if not by my precepts, at least by my example, how dangerous is the acquirement of knowledge, and how much happier that man is who believes his native town to be the world, than he who aspires to become greater than his nature will allow.” Another form of modernity that we discussed throughout this class is …show more content…
Historical materialism is looking at history through the eyes of economics and production and looking at how these two things impacted individuals and shaped the events of history. Marx and Engels were the first people to propose this view of economic history and this understanding is still vital to how many historians interpret historical events. Production is the mechanism for change in