The Quest to Conquer Nature: How the Pursuit of Rationalism Shaped Europe Between 1648 and 1948
By Nora1
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Absolutism (1610 to 1789)
Versailles gardens of the French absolutist monarch Louix XIV (the Sun King). The gardens are divided into three quarters, with the closest two parts being highly cultivated, symbolizing civilization, while the third part representing the vast uncivilized wilderness. The rationalized differentiation between the civilized and uncivilized is a recurring theme throughout European history, which will eventually encompass Europe's views for the rest of the world. -
Enlightenment/Scientific Revolution (1660-1800)
Joseph Wright of Derby, An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump, 1768.
The painting depicts a natural philosopher recreating one of Robert Boyle's air pump experiments, in which a bird is deprived of air and tortured to death. Most of the audience's scientific curiosity overcomes concern for the bird, showing how nature is to be rationalized through scientific experiments, and that masculine scientific progress takes precedence over feminine human emotions. -
Industrial Revolution (1760 to 1840)
The Britons Strike Home. The text reads: "Down with 'em! Chop 'em down my brave boys: give them no quarter they want to take our Beef & Pudding from us! and remember, the more you kill the less poor rates you'll have to pay so go at it Lads show your courage and your Loyalty." The stark class divisions that accompanied the industrial revolution rendered many people poor and underpaid. They were viewed as wild, dangerous, unhealthy, and immoral, and needed to be controlled. -
Scientific Racism and The New Imperialism Period (1880s to 1914)
Indigenous Races of the Earth (1857), implying that "Negroes" were a creational rank between "Greeks" and chimpanzee. The scientific revolution facilitated trade and travel and increased contact with foreigners, particularly those in Africa and the Americas. This intensified Europeans' awareness of themselves as a "superior race." Scientific advancement became a marker of perceived superiority, giving rise to scientific racism fields such as anthropometry. -
Fascism (1922-1945)
Italy's Benito Mussolini was one of the first politicians of the twentieth century to make use of modern communications for propaganda purposes. The rational manipulation of citizens' minds involved systematic inculcation from early childhood to adulthood through propaganda campaigns in education, art, music, film, newspapers, and sports and parades. -
Industrial Killings and WWII (1939 to 1945)
The image depicts an industrial manner of disposing of bodies with an undressing room, a gas chamber, a vent, and a crematorium.
Credits: Photo online, U.S. National Archives. The German Nazi regime's Auschwitz extermination camps feature a new scientific and industrialized way of exterminating undesired segments of population such as the disabled, the political dissidents and minority groups in order to facilitate the creation of a "master race."
