The condition of being modern - II

Taking the second point from the previous post – Conception of Universal History.

The word Universal in itself gives us a hint of being one. 19th century German philosopher G W F Hegel created a conceptual framework in which past and future events could be philosophically understood. Hegel tried to show that history contains a linear pattern and gives it the name of universal history saying history of mankind is one. For this we need to understand the philosophy of history as conceptualized by Hegel, which speaks about a rational process underlying the history. According to him there is a reason / logic behind everything by which all reality has its being. He considers reality as the whole or Absolute and history is in which this absolute unfolds itself to the consciousness of humanity. In the Hegelian system of Universal History, the final stage is constantly evolving.

“Each of the events is a necessary stage in the development of the whole truth. Reason tries to work out through human beings in the form of passion and desires to fulfill its ultimate goal in history.” (Lavine T.Z) Here the ultimate goal in history is linked with the idea of progress.

The conception of history in form of a linear narrative has been problematic. “The structuring of history according to the linear time frame makes sometimes civilizations to appear and disappear and to move from margin to centre or vice versa according to the identity of viewpoint of the speaker (author).” (Robert S.Nelson) This leads to “marginalization” of most of the developments, which then remain outside the scope of history.

For understanding the concept of marginalization one can read the article – The Map of Art History by Robert S. Nelson

The condition of being modern - I

As one browses through pages of history, a point truly comes where commencement of modern period can be marked. This condition of being modern lies in the wad of 18th century thought process. (European context) Most important layer being knowledge based on critical reasoning which led to progress in all aspects of human understanding, science and technology. It is based on this characteristic that we can distinguish modern period from earlier eras.

According to Marshall Berman, “what make all these changes distinctively modern are not the inventions themselves, but a process of incessant enquiry, discovery and innovation, and a shared determination to transform theory into practice, to use all we know to change the world.”

Talking about changes, two things were major

a. critical reasoning

b. conception of universal history

For this one can go through readings by Immanuel Kant, Cassirer E, and G W F Hegel on enlightenment and philosophy of history. Let us talk about critical reasoning. First what does ‘critical’ in ‘critical thinking’ means?Using our cognitive faculties and knowledge, we have acquired till yet to understand the circumstances in front of us. This calls us to be self-analytical or self conscious before conforming, even to any factual information.

During the 18th century, main fundamental principle was to combine knowledge based on reason (experimentation) and experience. We can say combining the empirical and rational thinking. It was proved during this century that one should keep on analysing data till we get to the simplest component and have a reason behind every belief.

Enlightenment thinkers were asking people to critically judge themselves in all phases of life. Immanuel Kant marked this phase as beginning of modernity or ‘break from the past’ which is based on reasoning and analysis. Having a self conscious nature (or reflexive) gets interconnected with term modern – not accepting anything with blind faith. It was because authoritative institutions like church and nobility were questioned, that new foundations based on the concept of nation state could be laid.