ABSTRACT
The transformation of the ancient concept of substance into the modern concept of function is probably the single most important philosophical revolution wrought by modern physics, in which matter is defined as energy. In modern psychology behavior replaces character as the fundamental concept. Significantly, however, most Expressionists recoiled from taking the final step and accepting that their own identity was a matter of relationships and functions. Clinging to the Schopenhauerian view that one's own subjectivity was the sole absolute, they adopted a virtually solipsistic viewpoint which was well suited to their sense of alienation. They looked out on a shifting, unreal world, certain only of their own identity. While the Expressionists might, as far as they were able, reconcile themselves to the latest advances in scientific thinking, their relationship to technology was a different matter altogether. But, apart from Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, the strongest influence on Expressionist philosophical attitudes came from scientific thought of the age and its technological achievements.
