Subject: Victorian Reflections (fwd)

From: Tom Banchoff <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 11:11:40 -0500 (EST)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1996 23:55:41 -0500
From: Kenny Liu <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Victorian Reflections

        It seems as though the Victorian Era was an uniquely exciting nexus
of cause and effect that has forever shaped western civlization.  Although
this can be said of many times before and since none of those so
fundamentally shaped man's perception of himself in the universe.  It was
here that man first saw his potential to become as gods.  This fundamental
shift in perception should not be underestimated.
        What were the causes of this egomaniacal weltanschauung?  For the
most part, it came as a result from some rather radical ideas from a few
influential people; Darwin, Locke, Smith, Marx, Freud, et.al.  Following in
the footsteps of Newton, the secrets of the world (real or imagined) were
being uncovered.  Along with advances in medicine, man became the shaper of
his own destiny.
        The ramifications of this are being felt to this day.  Poets and
philosophers of Victorian Europe already referred to the death of God.  The
church had to find ways to reconcile its dogma with these powerful new ideas
and the industrial revolution was well on its way.

source:  The Victorian Web