I presume it wouldn’t have occurred to me to mention these personalities in the same sentence, were it not for the 3-part ‘Genius of the Modern World’ series. Having not read the works of these authors, I never had the opportunity to develop a perspective of the ideas coming from these great minds. Hence, it was nice to finally understand the life and the works of these personalities. It is true that my opinion is now based on the portrayal of these minds in the TV series but I can’t imagine getting a better retelling and interpretation than from historians and scholars dedicated to the subject.
The common thread across all 3 episodes is that while the ideas emanating from these minds were revealing, they were extremely controversial for their time and continue to be so. Of the three, history has been kinder to Freud than Nietzsche and perhaps to a lesser extent Marx. Yet, their ideas continue to be as relevant today as it was when first put forth. The basic structure of the society hasn’t changed much over a century and a half with religion still occupying a prominent place in society and the capitalistic economy being still driven by the masses for the lopsided benefit of a select few. Thus, it is very easy to understand where these thoughts are coming from and where they are leading to.
However, what history has taught us is that things take a turn for the worse when ideas change to ideologies. That was precisely the case with the Bolshevik revolution that provided a new lease of life to Marxism and the unfortunate perversion of Nietzsche’s Ubermensch by the Nazis. On the other hand, war proved to be of much more beneficial to Freud’s psychoanalysis with the discovery of PTSD. History has since been more focussed on the political impact of these ideas than the ideas themselves which has perhaps lead to a lack in appreciation of these ideas and the circumstance surrounding them.
In our hearts, we wouldn’t wish for the dystopia that is associated with the works of these authors. Yet, it is simply impossible to not ponder whether we are already on that path to self-destruction. While the last century witnessed the worst of humanity through two world wars, it is very unlikely that the world would need another war for humanity to dive deeper in to the abyss. Humanity is numbing itself through distractions rather than facing up to the challenges that the world poses. While religion has been the predominant sanctum of distraction in humanity’s history, burgeoning means of entertainment have taken hold in recent years as a means of escaping the drudgery of life. That makes it all the more pertinent to question the meaning of life as we live through it, not only as an individual but as a society at large.
