Humanities

PERSONAL SIGNIFICANCE: MODERN

The four card sort exercises in this course are designed to help you discover and prioritize expressions of the humanities that have special significance for you. The items in these activities present a variety of things from the historical periods we've been studying together. As you complete this exercise, try not to think about what you think you "should" choose. Reflecting and choosing honestly will help you to gather the most meaningful information.

· Intrinsic and instrumental Contrast between values appreciated for their own sake or for practical use

· Scientific revolution Development of empirical methods for the study of natural phenomena

· Isaac Newton English thinker who unified the accounts of terrestrial and celestial motion

· John Locke English philosopher who defended empiricism and political toleration

· Montesquieu French political thinker who influenced founders of the American Revolution

· Encyclopedia Collected discourses of French free-thinkers, including Diderot, Condillac, and Voltaire

· Immanuel Kant German philosopher whose critical philosophy emphasized the limits of human reason

· Neoclassical architecture Deliberate appropriation of ancient styles in application to modern buildings

· Wordsworth English poet of the Romantic period

· Transcendentalism American philosophical and religious movement including Emerson and Thoreau

· Delacroix French painter of heroic revolutionary scenes

· Capitalism Economic system lauded by Smith and decried by Marx and Engels

· Flaubert French novelist whose realistic fiction detailed the lives of ordinary women

· Skyscrapers Tall buildings made possible by the strength of steel construction

· Impressionism Artistic movement focused on the immediacy of visual experience

· Mary Cassatt American impressionist whose paintings often featured women

· Vincent van Gogh Dutch post-Impressionist who used color to express emotional engagement

· Debussy French composer of the Impressionist period

· Renoir French Impressionist whose paintings have brilliant light and color

· Harlem Renaissance American writers and poets, including Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Alain Locke

· Pablo Picasso Prolific Spanish artist who experimented with a variety of styles

· Jazz Improvisatory style of music combining African and Caribbean elements

· Existentialism Philosophical movement emphasizing freedom and responsibility, as in Sartre and Camus

· Postmodernism Reaction to modernism expressed with parody and ironic detachment

· Pop art Presentation of ordinary objects as fine art, as by Warhol and Oldenburg