Cultural paradigms
Feb. 11th, 2012 03:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foliumnondefluetIn the context of my speech to an organisation of secular humanists, I got to thinking about the way our mainstream culture is heading, and about Aristotle's idea that virtue is the mean between two vices.
On the one hand, a regressive, nostalgic traditionalism that focuses on the past can lead to fundamentalism and fascism. On the other hand, a progressivism that rejects the past can lead to utopian jacobinism. Yet in practice, the mean between the two extremes doesn't seem to be a virtuous middle road, but rather a stagnant, degenerate bourgeois capitalism of bread and circuses. Perhaps we are on the verge of a Renaissance, wherein these opposites will be transcended.
It does seem that the Enlightenment idea of Progress has lost its steam, mostly giving way to a depressing nihilism and pessimistic view on the future, wherein greed and craven self-interest seems to be the extent of our collective cultural aspirations.
Obviously, many people reject greed as the primary motivation of their lives. Aside from from the violent reactions of fundamentalists against the soullessness of capitalism, we can also infer a collective aspiration for a framework of transcendent meaning from a steady interest in pre-modern trends, ranging from Asian religions, martial arts, the gothic revival, alternative medicine, fantasy literature, piercings, tattoos, raves, gangs, internet tribalism, and other such "barbaric" practices by which people distance themselves psychologically from the bourgeois mindset. So far however, there doesn't seem to be one culture-wide vision for where we should be going. Many people still find meaning in their lives, but because current society offers no compelling framework to support meaning, mostly this occurs in a relatively isolated, fragmented and individualistic way. I think this represent some danger, as a widespread need for meaning could easily be filled by some variation of fascism (which may already be happening in some parts of the West).
Where do you think we are heading, as a culture?
On the one hand, a regressive, nostalgic traditionalism that focuses on the past can lead to fundamentalism and fascism. On the other hand, a progressivism that rejects the past can lead to utopian jacobinism. Yet in practice, the mean between the two extremes doesn't seem to be a virtuous middle road, but rather a stagnant, degenerate bourgeois capitalism of bread and circuses. Perhaps we are on the verge of a Renaissance, wherein these opposites will be transcended.
It does seem that the Enlightenment idea of Progress has lost its steam, mostly giving way to a depressing nihilism and pessimistic view on the future, wherein greed and craven self-interest seems to be the extent of our collective cultural aspirations.
Obviously, many people reject greed as the primary motivation of their lives. Aside from from the violent reactions of fundamentalists against the soullessness of capitalism, we can also infer a collective aspiration for a framework of transcendent meaning from a steady interest in pre-modern trends, ranging from Asian religions, martial arts, the gothic revival, alternative medicine, fantasy literature, piercings, tattoos, raves, gangs, internet tribalism, and other such "barbaric" practices by which people distance themselves psychologically from the bourgeois mindset. So far however, there doesn't seem to be one culture-wide vision for where we should be going. Many people still find meaning in their lives, but because current society offers no compelling framework to support meaning, mostly this occurs in a relatively isolated, fragmented and individualistic way. I think this represent some danger, as a widespread need for meaning could easily be filled by some variation of fascism (which may already be happening in some parts of the West).
Where do you think we are heading, as a culture?
