Existentialism, Modernism and PostModernism

Definitions | Visual Illustrations | Explanatory Links | Comparison/Contrasts

My Definitions of Modernism, Existentialism, and PostModernism

Modernism

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world...
-- William Butler Yeats "The Second Coming "

"These Fragments have I shored against my ruin"

-- T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land

These two quotations have always epitomized Modernism to me.

I see Modernsim as a reaction to a number of discontinuities suffered at the end of the nineteeth century-- crucial disruptions in conventional ways of thinking that threw old explanations, moral systems, and deologies into question and required the creation of new ideas of order. These new forms of order were typically more individualistic, more relativistic, more abstract, and more techological than previous ways of thinking.

METAPHYSICAL DISCONTINUITIES

questioning of literal interpretation of the Bible
historical research into the life of Christ and the historical accuracy of the Gospels
mechanisms of evolution suggest that nature is not benign but "red in tooth and claw" -- that existence is a struggle for survival
evidence from biology and geology suggests that earth is much older than previously thought and that species were not created individually, at one time

These discontinuities reform methods of reading the Bible, promoting metaphorical interpretation of the Bible as a source of moral truths. There is also a rise in interest in other religions and cultures, particularly arcane or primitive ones: if our religious teachings can be understood metaphorically, why can't theirs?

EPSITEMOLOGICAL DISCONTINUITIES

Kant and post-Kantians -- recognition that perception is mediated by subjective categories of knowing

PSYCHOLOGICAL AND AXIOLOGICAL DISCONTINUITIES

Freud -- existence of the unconscious suggests that personality is not unitary and under control

SOCIAL DISCONTINUITIES

Marx-- recognition of class diferences, existentce of exploitation and class warfare
Shrinkage of family to nuclear unit because of industrialisation and increasing mobility
Separation of gender roles because of industrialisation leaves women responsible for subsistence tasks while men go out into public world to make money
Alienation -- capitalism and mass production methods increasingly reduce individual worker to cog in the industrial machine

AESTHETIC AND RHETORICAL DISCONTINUITIES

Visual Illustrations

Museum of Modern Art: Paintings -- Examples of Modernist art
Postmodern Architecture
Links to Postmodern Art

Explanatory Links

Existentialism

A philosophical position concerned primarily with human existence -- the difficulty of defining value, making choices, and performing actions in a world which has no intrinsic or absolute meaning. Some existentialists, such as the 19th Danish philosopher, Kierkeggard, are Christians, but most 20th century existentialists, such as Sartre and Camus, are more secular. Existentialists believe that human beings are unique in that they are defined by their existence, by the choices they make in their lives, rather than by any idea, absolute, innate, or a priori essence. A chair is a chair, but a human being is defined by what s/he does.