History

1.a. How did the romantics view of nature differ from that of the philosophes
The philosophes view of nature was that of a huge orderly machine, in which each part was a cog in the wheel. The philosophes believed that the universe could be understood and explained with the help of reason alone. The romanticists differed from the philosophes in two fundamental respects. The romanticists believed in the individuality of each person, and in the place of intuition and feeling in understanding the nature of things as much as of reason.

The works of romantic writers emphasized the role of emotion, feeling and imagination. The German writer Goethes novel The Sorrows of Young Werther exemplifies this focus on these traits in a dramatic fashion. Other writers who followed him produced more poignant tales that emphasized this approach.

Similarly, the thirst for individualism in the romanticists was evident both in their living styles, and their literary and artistic creations. They sported long hair and beards, and wore outrageous clothes, revolting against the norms laid down by society. Some even experimented with drugs to alter their consciousness levels. Stories from the past and narrations of unusual or abnormal events caught the imagination of the people. All of this clearly indicated a shift from the earlier emphasis on reason and tradition.

The famous line we murder to dissect contained in Wordsworths poem The Tables Turned reflects this attitude. Dissection represents experimentation. When this experimentation becomes so devoid of human feelings that a person commits a murder to obtain a body for the purpose, one can understand the depravation. The word Murder in this line also possibly refers to the murder of the finer instincts and of the soul. Thus cold blooded reasoning, devoid of feelings and emotion, stoops to low levels, and kills the individual.

1b. How did Einsteins theory overturn the commonsense picture of the universe
According to Einsteins theory, Space and Time are not independent of the observer, and are therefore not absolute, but are relative to the observer. As Einstein himself explained, the earlier view that if all matter disappeared from the universe, time and space would still remain, was challenged by Einsteins view, who said that these would also disappear when all observers disappeared. As we have seen earlier, the philosophes view of the world was based on an orderly and rational universe that was conceptualized as a huge machine. Einsteins theory stated that this is not so, as it is relative to the observer.

1c. How did Werner Heisenberg undermine the confidence of science to discover all the laws that govern the cosmos
The German scientist Werner Heisenberg postulated the uncertainty principle, which stated that it is impossible to observe all phenomena precisely. For example, it is impossible to determine the path of an electron, because the very act of observing disturbed it. Although Heisenbergs postulate concerned the path of an electron directly, it changed the general view of scientists about the immutable nature of physical phenomena and conclusions derived using observations.

2a. Karl Marxs view of history and human society
According to Karl Marx, history is characterized by the development of class antagonisms. Marx thus sees the history of human society as one of conflict between various groups. The groups themselves changed from time to time and epoch to epoch. One common feature among these class struggles was the exploitation of one group by another. Thus history of humans is characterized by opposing classes and the exploitation of one class by another.

Marx believed that a society free of such exploitation is the only society that could insure the freedom of the individual, and therefore the traditional property relations in society should be broken in order to achieve true freedom for each individual. In the ideal society conceived by Marx, everyone shared equally the ownership of property, labor and profits.
Marx believed that such a society could be established only by rejecting all established values and eternal truths. There are no such absolute truths, and society has so far been afflicted by the malady of carrying over the old notions to the new order, every time a change was brought in. Therefore, according to Marx, rejection of the established order and all the traditional notions is essential to achieve the above objective of freedom for the individual. Moreover, the only means of achieving this is through force.

2b. How did Charles Darwin explain the evolution of living things including human beings
According to Charles Darwin, life evolved gradually over long period of time from lower forms of life to higher forms of life. This process consisted of a natural selection process in which the fittest survived. This ensured that each subsequent form of life was superior to the earlier ones. Darwin presented evidence of this in a highly organized manner.

2c. How did social Darwinists apply Darwins theory to human society
Social Darwinists applied the theory of organic evolution to human society. This actually represented a misuse and wrong application of a scientific principle to an area in which it has little relevance. The basic idea propounded by these social Darwinists was that human society evolved over a period of time. As part of this process, only the most fit and desirable human elements survived and gained superiority. Extreme nationalists and racists carried this idea too far and argued that races and nations were constantly engaged in a struggle to eliminate the weak elements. The German general Friedrich von Bernhardi proposed that wars are an essential part of this process in which weaker nations and societies were eliminated. Houston Stewart Chamberlain, a Briton settled in Germany, argued that this was true of races, and the only pure race was the Aryan, represented by the Germans and the Western culture. Thus social Darwinists misused the concept of evolution to breed international and interracial hatred.