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Modern life redirects here. For the French lm, see 1 Etymology
Modern Life (lm).
The term modern (Latin modernus from modo, just
Modernity is a term of art used in the humanities and now) dates from the 5th century, originally distinguish-
social sciences to designate both a historical period (the ing the Christian era from the Pagan era. In the 6th cen-
modern era), as well as the ensemble of particular socio- tury AD, Cassiodorus appears to have been the rst writer
cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in post- to use modern (modernus) regularly to refer to his own
medieval Europe and have developed since, in various age (O'Donnell 1979, 235 n9). However, the word en-
ways and at various times, around the world. While it tered general usage only in the 17th-century quarrel of the
includes a wide range of interrelated historical processes Ancients and the Modernsdebating: Is Modern cul-
and cultural phenomena (from fashion to modern war- ture superior to Classical (GrcoRoman) culture?"a
fare), it can also refer to the subjective or existential ex- literary and artistic quarrel within the Acadmie franaise
perience of the conditions they produce, and their on- in the early 1690s.
going impact on human culture, institutions, and politics In these usages, modernity denoted the renunciation
(Berman 2010, 1536). of the recent past, favouring a new beginning, and a re-
As a historical category, modernity refers to a period interpretation of historical origin. The distinction be-
marked by a questioning or rejection of tradition; the pri- tween modernity and modern did not arise until the
oritization of individualism, freedom and formal equal- 19th century (Delanty 2007).
ity; faith in inevitable social, scientic and technolog-
ical progress and human perfectibility; rationalization
and professionalization; a movement from feudalism (or 2 Phases
agrarianism) toward capitalism and the market economy;
industrialization, urbanization and secularization; the de-
velopment of the nation-state and its constituent institu- Modernity has been associated with cultural and
tions (e.g. representative democracy, public education, intellectual movements of 14361789 and extending to
modern bureaucracy) and forms of surveillance (Foucault the 1970s or later (Toulmin 1992, 35).
1995, 17077). Some writers have suggested there is According to Marshall Berman (1982, 1617), moder-
more than one possible modernity, given the unsettled na- nity is periodized into three conventional phases (dubbed
ture of the term and of history itself. Early, Classical, and Late, respectively, by Peter
Charles Baudelaire is credited with coining the term Osborne (1992, 25)):
modernity (modernit) in his 1864 essay The Painter
of Modern Life, to designate the eeting, ephemeral ex- Early modernity: 15001789 (or 14531789 in tra-
perience of life in an urban metropolis, and the responsi- ditional historiography)
bility art has to capture that experience. In this sense, it
refers to a particular relationship to time, one character- Classical modernity: 17891900 (corresponding to
ized by intense historical discontinuity or rupture, open- the long 19th century (17891914) in Hobsbawm's
ness to the novelty of the future, and a heightened sen- scheme)
sitivity to what is unique about the present (Kompridis
2006, 3259). Late modernity: 19001989
As an analytical concept and normative ideal, modernity
is closely linked to the ethos of philosophical and aes- In the second phase Berman draws upon the growth of
thetic modernism; political and intellectual currents that modern technologies such as the newspaper, telegraph
intersect with the Enlightenment; and subsequent devel- and other forms of mass media. There was a great shift
opments as diverse as Marxism, existentialism, modern into modernization in the name of industrial capitalism.
art and the formal establishment of social science. It also Finally in the third phase, modernist arts and individual
encompasses the social relations associated with the rise creativity marked the beginning of a new modernist age
of capitalism, and shifts in attitudes associated with secu- as it combats oppressive politics, economics as well as
larisation and post-industrial life (Berman 2010, 1536). other social forces including mass media (Laughey 2007,
30).
1
2 3 DEFINITION
Some authors, such as Lyotard and Baudrillard, be- the methodological approach of Hobbes include those
lieve that modernity ended in the mid- or late 20th of John Locke (Goldwin 1987), Spinoza (Rosen 1987),
century and thus have dened a period subsequent to Giambattista Vico (1984, xli), and Rousseau (1997, part
modernity, namely Postmodernity (1930s/1950s/1990s 1). David Hume made what he considered to be the
present). Other theorists, however, regard the period rst proper attempt at trying to apply Bacons scientic
from the late 20th century to the present as merely an- method to political subjects (Hume 1896 [1739], intro.),
other phase of modernity; Zygmunt Bauman (1989) calls rejecting some aspects of the approach of Hobbes.
this phase Liquid modernity, Giddens (1998) labels it Modernist republicanism openly inuenced the founda-
High modernity (see High modernism).
tion of republics during the Dutch Revolt (15681609)
(Bock, Skinner, and Viroli 1990, chapt. 10,12), English
Civil War (16421651) (Rahe 2006, chapt. 1), American
3 Denition Revolution (17751783) (Rahe 2006, chapt. 611), the
French Revolution (17891799), and the Haitian revolu-
tion (1791-1804). (Orwin and Tarcov 1997, chapt. 8).
3.1 Political
A second phase of modernist political thinking begins
with Rousseau, who questioned the natural rationality
Politically, modernitys earliest phase starts with Niccol
and sociality of humanity and proposed that human na-
Machiavelli's works which openly rejected the medieval
ture was much more malleable than had been previously
and Aristotelian style of analyzing politics by comparison
thought. By this logic, what makes a good political sys-
with ideas about how things should be, in favour of real-
tem or a good man is completely dependent upon the
istic analysis of how things really are. He also proposed
chance path a whole people has taken over history. This
that an aim of politics is to control ones own chance or
thought inuenced the political (and aesthetic) thinking
fortune, and that relying upon providence actually leads
of Immanuel Kant, Edmund Burke and others and led
to evil. Machiavelli argued, for example, that violent di-
to a critical review of modernist politics. On the con-
visions within political communities are unavoidable, but
servative side, Burke argued that this understanding en-
can also be a source of strength which law-makers and
couraged caution and avoidance of radical change. How-
leaders should account for and even encourage in some
ever more ambitious movements also developed from
ways (Strauss 1987).
this insight into human culture, initially Romanticism and
Machiavellis recommendations were sometimes inuen- Historicism, and eventually both the Communism of Karl
tial upon kings and princes, but eventually came to be Marx, and the modern forms of nationalism inspired by
seen as favoring free republics over monarchies (Rahe the French Revolution, including, in one extreme, the
2006, 1). Machiavelli in turn inuenced Francis Bacon German Nazi movement (Orwin and Tarcov 1997, chapt.
(Kennington 2004, chapt. 4), Marchamont Needham 4).
(Rahe 2006, chapt. 1), James Harrington (Rahe 2006,
On the other hand, the notion modernity has been con-
chapt. 1), John Milton (Bock, Skinner, and Viroli 1990,
tested also due to its Euro-centric underpinnings. This is
chapt. 11), David Hume (Rahe 2006, chapt. 4), and
further aggravated by the re-emergence of non-Western
many others (Strauss 1958).
powers. Yet, the contestations about modernity are also
Important modern political doctrines which stem from linked with our notions of democracy, social discipline,
the new Machiavellian realism include Mandeville's in- and development (Regilme 2012, 96).
uential proposal that "Private Vices by the dextrous
Management of a skilful Politician may be turned into
Publick Benets" (the last sentence of his Fable of the 3.2 Sociological
Bees), and also the doctrine of a constitutional "separation
of powers" in government, rst clearly proposed by In sociology, a discipline that arose in direct response to
Montesquieu. Both these principles are enshrined within the social problems of modernity (Harriss 2000, 325),
the constitutions of most modern democracies. It has the term most generally refers to the social conditions,
been observed that while Machiavellis realism saw a processes, and discourses consequent to the Age of En-
value to war and political violence, his lasting inuence lightenment. In the most basic terms, Anthony Giddens
has been tamed so that useful conict was deliber- describes modernity as
ately converted as much as possible to formalized po-
litical struggles and the economic conict encouraged ...a shorthand term for modern society, or
between free, private enterprises (Rahe 2006, chapt. 5; industrial civilization. Portrayed in more de-
Manseld 1989). tail, it is associated with (1) a certain set of
Starting with Thomas Hobbes, attempts were made to use attitudes towards the world, the idea of the
the methods of the new modern physical sciences, as pro- world as open to transformation, by human in-
posed by Bacon and Descartes, applied to humanity and tervention; (2) a complex of economic insti-
politics (Berns 1987). Notable attempts to improve upon tutions, especially industrial production and a
3.3 Cultural and philosophical 3
distinct from the terms Modern Age and Modernism as increased specialization of the segments of society,
a discrete term applied to the cultural condition in which i.e., division of labor, and area inter-dependency
the seemingly absolute necessity of innovation becomes a
primary fact of life, work, and thought. And modernity increased level of excessive stratication in terms of
in art is more than merely the state of being modern, or social life of a modern man
the opposition between old and new (Smith 2009). Increased state of dehumanisation, dehumanity,
In the essay The Painter of Modern Life (1864), unionisation, as man became embittered about the
Charles Baudelaire gives a literary denition: By negative turn of events which sprouted a growing
modernity I mean the transitory, the fugitive, the contin- fear.
gent (Baudelaire 1964, 13).
man became a victim of the underlying circum-
Advancing technological innovation, aecting artistic stances presented by the modern world
technique and the means of manufacture, changed rapidly
the possibilities of art and its status in a rapidly changing Increased competitiveness amongst people in the so-
society. Photography challenged the place of the painter ciety (survival of the ttest) as the jungle rule sets in.
and painting. Architecture was transformed by the avail-
ability of steel for structures.
5 See also
3.7 Theological Buddhist modernism
From theologian Thomas C. Oden's perspective, moder- Hypermodernity
nity is marked by four fundamental values (Hall 1990):
Industrialization
Moral relativism (which says that what is right is Islam and modernity
dictated by culture, social location, and situation)"
Late modernity
Autonomous individualism (which assumes that
moral authority comes essentially from within)" Mass society
Traditional society
4 Dened Transmodernity
Urbanization
Of the available conceptual denitions in sociology,
modernity is marked and dened by an obsession
with 'evidence', visual culture, and personal visibility
(Leppert 2004, 19). Generally, the large-scale social in- 6 Content notes
tegration constituting modernity, involves the:
[1] Quotation from Fackenheim 1967, 27273:
increased movement of goods, capital, people, and But there does seem to be a necessary
information among formerly discrete populations, conict between modern thought and the Bib-
and consequent inuence beyond the local area lical belief in revelation. All claims of reve-
lation, modern science and philosophy seem
increased formal social organization of mobile pop- agreed, must be repudiated, as mere relics of
ulaces, development of circuits on which they and superstitious ages. ... [to a modern phyloso-
their inuence travel, and societal standardization pher] The Biblical God...was a mere myth of
conducive to socio-economic mobility bygone ages.
6 7 REFERENCES
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... a cluster of issues surrounding the
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both though that modernity raised particular Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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for J. Roberts. Ninth edition, as The Fable of the
translated by Julian Young) in Martin Heidegger,
Bees, or, Private Vices, Public Benets ... with an
O the Beaten Track, edited and translated by Ju-
Essay on Charity and Charity-Schools and a Search
lian Young and Kenneth Haynes, 5785 (Cambridge
into the Nature of Society, to Which Is Added, a Vin-
and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002).
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Johns Hopkins University Press.
Hume, David. 1896 [1739]. A Treatise of Human
Nature, edited by Sir K. C. B. Lewis Amherst Selby Norris, Christopher. 1995. Modernism. In The
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ennes. Introduction la phnomnologie, translated
by Gabrielle Peier and Emmanuel Lvinas. Bib- O'Donnell, James J. 1979. Cassiodorus. Berkeley,
liothque Socit Francaise de Philosophie. Paris: California: University of California Press. ISBN 0-
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8 8 FURTHER READING
Orwin, Cliord, and Nathan Tarcov. 1997. The Press. ISBN 0-02-932631-1. Paperback reprint
Legacy of Rousseau. Chicago: University of 1992, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN
Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-63855-3 (cloth); ISBN 0-226-80838-6.
0-226-63856-1 (pbk).
Vico, Giambattista. 1984. The New Science of
Osborne, Peter. 1992. "Modernity Is a Quali- Giambattista Vico: Unabridged Translation of the
tative, Not a Chronological, Category: Notes on Third Edition (1744), with the Addition of Prac-
the Dialectics of Dierential Historical Time". In tice of the New Science, edited by Thomas Goddard
Postmodernism and the Re-reading of Modernity, Bergin and Max Harold Fisch. Cornell Paperbacks.
edited by Francis Barker, Peter Hulme, and Mar- Ithaca: Cornell University Press. ISBN 0-8014-
garet Iversen. Essex Symposia, Literature, Politics, 9265-3 (pbk).
Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
ISBN 0-7190-3745-X.
Toulmin, Stephen Edelston. 1990. Cosmopolis: The Everdell, William R. 1997. The First Moderns: Pro-
Hidden Agenda of Modernity. New York: Free les in the Origins of Twentieth-Century Thought.
9
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10 10 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
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