But What is the Modern?
“On the one hand, there have started into life industrial and scientific forces, which no epoch of the former human history had ever suspected. On the other hand, there exist symptoms of decay, far surpassing the horrors recorded of the latter times of the Roman Empire. In our days, everything seems pregnant with its contrary: Machinery, gifted with the wonderful power of shortening and fructifying human labour, we behold starving and overworking it; The newfangled sources of wealth, by some strange weird spell, are turned into sources of want; The victories of art seem bought by the loss of character.
At the same pace that mankind masters nature, man seems to become enslaved to other men or to his own infamy. Even the pure light of science seems unable to shine but on the dark background of ignorance. All our invention and progress seem to result in endowing material forces with intellectual life, and in stultifying human life into a material force.” (Marx)
—All That Is Solid Melts Into Air (20)
Karl Marx delineates the dichotomy and nuance of modernity in the industrialize(ing) world, where 21st modernist philosophers do not. Marx’ works remain timeless as his explanations of the lived experience of modernity survive. His work and the parallelisms of the experiences between the working class and the bourgeoisie are not static; it is a modernist philosophy that applies to this modern world. The changing modern world.
His descriptions of the paradoxical experience of modernism outline the polarized nature of modernity. Philosophy, science, art, and industry permanently altered the trajectory of humanity. The alterations that occurred however, are neither evenly distributed nor universally benevolent. They are also examined and re-lived in art, philosophy and politics.
Modernity is a state of paradox. In a literary sense, the best comparison to modernity can be found in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, wherein he compares the squalor of Revolutionary Paris to the industrialized London. Modernity is also extrapolated upon by the artists and writers and poets of the 21st century. The ghastly consequences of the atom bomb are painted in the canvases of Dalí with his melting clocks. The echoing, and frankly, cynical words of Ernest Hemingway reflect the human consequences of warfare stemming from the modern geo-political landscape. Modernity is a perfect landscape where philosophy can be experienced through art. Whether that be the written word, philosophy, or paint on a canvas.
Immediate real-life comparisons can be made to the increases in quality of life in the global north versus the stagnancy of quality of life, along with the negative state development that occurs in the global south. The polarity of modernity is also observable in the seeming championing of humanity by way of human rights. Man aims to ensure the sustained dignity of his fellow man, but destroys humanity by the systems, industries and weaponry that he has built. Man wishes to ensure the safety of his country by destroying another state. Technological advancements in medicine and engineering result in biological weaponry rather than medicinal advancements.
Marx’s conceptualization of modernity, though buried deeply in rhetoric and history and philosophy I am not yet equipped to understand is a foundational lens into the naked world, stripped of propaganda. It is a Philosophy wholly based upon feelings and experiences as they occur in the world.. Its no wonder Marx is remembered, memorialized, and immortalized.
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