David Sullivan's Influence On Modernism

Without a doubt, Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the greatest architects in American history and the greatest architect of the 20th century. Nature was his muse and his architectural structures embodied organic qualities. He took full advantage of the technological advances of the 20th century but redirecting the concept of space and employing new techniques; Wright was known for his modern and innovative designs. He believed that, “architecture was not just about buildings, it was about nourishing the lives of those sheltered within them”. Wright is not only one of the most well known architects in America but he is also thought of as one of the most influential architects in the world.

In his 1947 essay, “Thought,” Louis H. Sullivan offers concepts on how to improve one’s creative thinking process. He suggests that the most highly productive, creative thinking is accomplished better without the use of words, thus promoting the use of more imaginative cogitating. Sullivan calls the process of thinking an art, a science, and compares it to being like an army. He also equates thinking to being a philosophy, and it is here that a problem arises. He mentions the use of reading and states, “The best that reading and listening can do is to stimulate you to think your own thoughts, but nine times out of ten, you are thinking the other man’s thought, not your own.” Sullivan is suggesting that generally, the act of reading only permits the reader access to the author’s thought process and does not allow them to develop their own ideas from the source. Therefore, does the act of reading diminish one’s creativity and originality? Certainly not, reading inspires one to meditate on the source’s idea; therefore, stirring up the reader’s thought process to create new thinking schemes.

In the modern world, mankind is surrounding by a plethora of unique animals, plants, and other organism that have a certain natural design all their own. For instance, every organism appears to be best suited in their natural environment, as they are usually able thrive under unique conditions that may not optimal for every organism. Thus, it would appear as though divine intervention was necessary for this perfect design and placement of an organism into their environment. Consequently, this was the ideology for many centuries until Charles Darwin explained how these “illusions” fit into his theory of natural selection. Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection stated that the process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, such as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations (Cite). Although it is widely accepted that many of human’s physical traits are inherited from their parents, the notion that the mind has evolved and is designed to function is certain ways is still controversial (Cite). With that being said, the majority of theories that illustrate how the mind develops are still being debated. Moreover, the

The 1920s is recognized as a time of citizen imbalance, from the various industrialization, the Prohibition Era, and the fight for women’s rights. It was essentially rural versus urban as America was divided into two categories, Fundamentalists, and Modernists. Modernists, who lived mainly in cities, would strive for a future in knowledge and being technologically advanced. As for the Fundamentalists, they based themselves off old ideals, and considered any other race allied with the more “superior” race to be degrading. More often than not, each association would either approve a supremacy, or fight to discontinue it.

Student athletes have been disrespected their whole career, even though College athletic is considered a money maker of a business, the athletes don’t even get paid, some say it is because paying them will reduce the amount of competitiveness, some say they aren’t employees so they shouldn’t get paid. Even the full scholarships they are getting has flaws. Overall the colleges are just too greedy.

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the most important architects of the twentieth century; with his buildings and his ideals of an organic architecture, he got to be known by everyone. Who does not know about the Fallingwater? This building is considered his masterpiece and represents all his principles. For him, organic architecture was designing by integrating a building to its site and context, and he was able to achieve it with most of his projects. However, Wright’s career did not started like this; he went through a lot of complex periods that ended consolidating his ideals as an architect. Moreover, each of these phases had different kind of influences that Wright took and learned from. Therefore, it’s important to acknowledge how outside architecture and social factors influenced his “Organic” idea.

Throughout his whole writing career, Frank Norris had many different people who became his inspiration. While studying at Berkeley, Norris had a professor by the name of Joseph Le Conte. Professor Le Conte “argued that God is immanent in nature, is resident in the natural forces which account for evolution, and uses evolution as His method of creation” (“Frank Norris” 1). Norris believed that evolution threatens free will and, that human behavior was steered by heredity and a primal nature that was beyond control. Another very influential man for Frank Norris was Herbert Spencer, a Victorian biologist, social philosopher and a firm believer in Social Darwinism. Spencer

Shakespeare uses dramatic irony and expositions to illustrate that Macbeth’s downfall occurred because of fate. The three witches telling Macbeth his destiny did not alter the course of his fate, but it prompted his downfall. Lady Macbeth and later Macbeth interprets the witches prophecy as Macbeth needs kill those who stand in his way. Lady Macbeth plays a significant role in Macbeth’s downfall as does Macbeth’s ego.

The movement of naturalism was greatly influenced by the 19th-century ideas of Social Darwinism, which was in turn influenced by Charles Darwin's theories on evolution. Social Darwinism applied to the human environment the evolutionary concept that natural environments alter an organism's biological makeup over time through natural selection. Social Darwinists and naturalists cited this as proof that organisms, including humans, do not have free will, but are shaped, or determined, by their environment and biology. Naturalists argued that the deterministic world is based on a series of links, each of which causes the next (for more on these causal links, see Causal links and processes, below). In "To Build a

The American 1920s were a time of growth and rebirth for the nation. Old ideas and customs fell away to make way for new fads and one of the biggest generation gaps ever recorded. Throughout this decade, art, music, and literature hit a creative curve that is still highly remembered and recognized today. To add to the changes, a new life became available for more and more African Americans. They broke away in many ways to become more of a part of America and to be looked at as equal citizens.

Wright created the philosophy of "organic architecture," the center principle of which maintains that the building should develop out of its natural surroundings. From the outset he exhibited bold originality in his designs for both private and public structures and rebelled against the ornate neoclassic and Victorian styles favored by conventional architects. Wright believe that each building should have its own identity and it should be determined in each case by the particular function of the building, its environment, and the type of materials used in the structure. He used various building

Politics are a noticeably controversial and complex topic of discussion for the majority of the American people. The political opinions of the American people are ultimately developed by their collective culture, lifestyle and political ideology. The majority of the American people are undeniably influenced and informed, directly and indirectly, by multiple sources of media on a daily basis. In this day and age, technology has allowed national political news to spread throughout the country virtually immediately via the internet, television, and radio. Many people might believe that popular news companies share and release politically biased information to the public with intentions to directly persuade the citizen’s opinions. The politically shared values and opinions of the American citizens strongly influence the executive decisions made within the United States government. Although, people that share conservative values believe that most news companies have a liberal bias, on the controversy, most people that share liberal values believe that most news companies have a conservative bias. This being said, all media released to the public, inevitably shares some kind of political bias and opinion that contains qualities of an opposing party.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, changes in the dynamics of society caused intellectuals to question the traditions of everyday life. From religious views to the arts of literature, traditional values and forms were rejected, thus defining a line between the two time periods, which can be considered as the start of the Modern era. Also known as Modernism, the modern era used literature as an outlet for expressing the thoughts and feelings of the time. Modern texts use city life, industrialization and globalization, and ironic and satirical themes to showcase their bleak outlook on life post both world wars. The nature of these events are aspects of society

Naturalism is notable for swaying over to explaining most things and ideas with science instead of one divine being. Both Darwinism's concept of natural selection and Freud's concepts of psychology influenced the movement (5 Characteristics of Naturalism). Where Romantics believed that all things were influenced by the presence of God and the supernatural, Naturalist and Realist like to think that many aspects can be explained by biological and scientific reasoning. Writings from this movement are known for displaying major character detachment. For example,

Modernism is just another word for 20th century. It was a movement which started in the beginning of the 20th century and carried on until about the 1960’s.