Mod Squad

Wrapping up the year, I’d like to think for a second on something that Jason mentioned in seminar and in his blog post – how Modernism seeks progress through rejection.  I think that is what is at the heart of what it truly means to be modern, and forgive me for saying this, I think that condition of rejection is what lies at the heart of Modernism’s “cynical” outlook, and the cynicism 2.0 of Postmodernism down the road.  The only way to sustain a movement that is so rooted in rejection (albeit “evolution” may be a kinder word, if less accurate) is with copious amounts of cynical reflection on the part of its participants.

There are rebels, to be sure.  I think this may be why I so highly enjoyed authors like Baudelaire, who were able to find a little joy, a little celebration in the redefinition of barriers (I actually laughed at his writing).  I believe we truly have been modern, many times over, that it’s inescapable.

Can LaTour truly say that we have never been Modern?  Is that not something of a paradox to say that we have never been what we have ourselves defined and created?  I don’t think so.  We are modern in moving forward, and in adapting.  I think that we are also beyond it now, in being able, not only to define our time, but to construct a definition of the definition.  Perhaps we have, in a sense, closed the circle on ourselves.

This seminar is modern.  I noticed it in myself when a few of the comments I made were actually a rejection of another’s comment (a friendly rejection, I should add!).  I think what I wanted to drive at was the danger in taking a cynical, modern view.  Perhaps it’s more pronounced now more than ever, in the throws of PoModernism.  What I fear for is the assertion that we are living in a more and more disjuncted society, that there are more layers of “simulacra” that ever before.

To a certain degree, this may be true.  But we cannot envision a society in dire need of analysis, and resulting from that, reconstruction.  We cannot assume that others do not see this, that everyone is complacent.  That attitude prevails in universities and academic circles, and it’s a slippery slope.  I think we can look for answers, as men like Freud do, but not sell those who do not enter the discussion short.  It’s entirely possible they see society for what it is and either analyze it in their own, non-academic terms, or have found a way to be happy within it, and that is never a bad thing.

Anyway, it’s been a great class, and everyone have a nice summer!

-Steve

The resurrection of Modernity

            Modernity is not necessarily a rejection of everything that came before it, but rather a morphing of definitions and divisions as our worldview becomes more sophisticated. Two major currents have been the catalyst for this transformation: the ascendancy of positivism and enlightenment ideals and the descent of the primacy of the Church. Nietzsche put coins on God’s eyes, Marx gave the workers supremacy over the employers, and Freud took the ethereal out of dreams, leaving sex wrapped in death.

            Modernity then gave us the freedom (and the burden) of a self-awareness that could not be resolved in our classical worldview. The reassuring hierarchy of God-Church-Laity is now reduced to “respectability” rather than metaphysical sureties. Robbed of our positioning in God’s scheme, Modernity is the framework in which we must regain our relevance in a large, mechanistic universe that will probably continue to exist with, or without, us. Once upon a time we were sure that God had created us in some Very Important plan. It was the self-absorption of a child. Collectively we are recognizing that we may in fact have been the accidental arrangement of amino acids and DNA devoid of intention or purpose.

            The mission then is to find meaning in existence, or even to ask if meaning is even important. Sartre beat us mercilessly with this futility. It is the evolution of Modern thought that we face that worthlessness and defiantly find reason in the chaos, if just to give us a reason to get out of bed tomorrow.

            The reaction to Modernity unanswered questions – the nihilism – of post modernism is the unsatisfactory conclusion to the trajectory of Modernity. Personally, I think that post modernism is cowardly; if you can’t find the answer then go sulk and declare it unimportant. After some reflection, I think that post modernism will be abandoned as a cop out, and the questions that Modernity left unanswered will be attacked with fresh enthusiasm.

 

Sean