Modernism is a school of thought that is believed to have begun during the period of Renaissance. This movement marked the age of Enlightenment in the early 20th century, as it led to rejection of traditional ideals and principles. This philosophical term looked for new perspectives to act as foundation for their knowledge, that is, it aimed at disapproving the irrational and subjective mind of man.
It supported personal ideologies on issues like religious beliefs; for instance, one does not have to accept an idea because it is religious. Self consciousness was meant to assist in criticizing an idea, then arriving at a conclusion at last.
In modernism, one has to identify, evaluate, criticize, and understand a concept, then, choose without external interference. The need for premises/ reasons to attain truth remained fundamental during this time (Johnson, 2007).
Notably, Karl Marx (1818-1883), Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) were influential thinkers during the modern era. Specifically, Freud invented the subconscious part of the mind, the superego, which helps in analyzing how one thinks, in other words, evaluating the correctness of the thinking.
Together with the superego, were the Id and the ego. In addition, this concept of the subconscious mind dimension analyzes how people think about realistic situations/ideas and how we view our selves. Our thinking starts with the Id, where we do anything necessary to satisfy the impending need for survival (Sigmund Freud n.d.).
The next level is the ego, which keeps us with the reality of external world, that is, the world consists of others and, therefore, we are not alone. The ego helps us to adapt to the physical environment and store our experiences. The above theory that analyzes the human consciousness was called the Psycho-Analysis.
From these dimensions, Freud insisted that things should not be construed to be true as they appear, the reality lies beyond what we can physically see. Therefore, to unearth the truth we have to conduct some complex and perverted actions.
Clearly, modernism tried to eliminate subjectivity as a means of thinking and arriving at conclusions. Modernism tried to eliminate fixed concepts and ideas on varied issues; therefore, one has to have reasons to support his/her claims.
Moreover, in Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams 1900, he reveals that dreams have displaced meanings and abstract symbols that calls for an in depth analysis and recollection in order to find the true meanings or complete validity. His proclamation that one only dreams whatever he/she encounters in life shows that a human being is largely a product of his/her environment and experience.
Freud links how the brain functions with the nature of dreams. Therefore, one should reflexively be aware of these biases in order to free himself/herself from them and aim to be objective in his/her decisions. In general, the society becomes increasingly more reflective and self-aware of new ideas.
Markedly, modernism movement instituted inquisitive minds in people. It begins with self-doubt, which reveals the methodology of justifying mind consciousness in accepting truth (Johnson, 2007). However, the control of unconscious and irrational desires of human beings is contradictive to the enlightenment philosophy that supports man’s reasoning as guidance to truth, yet human beings are essentially irrational beings.
This weakness of Freud’s assertion led to criticism of some philosophers like Anouchka Grose. He disagreed with Freud’s Oedipus complex of socialization claiming that it was quite embarrassing as this act increases immoral behaviours and it is universally forbidden.
The French scholar Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) supported the existentialism themes in the middle of the 20th century through his pieces of work that touched on nothingness, freedom, alienation and boredom (Mastin, 2008). His cornerstones were the self and ethical interests. Therefore, he reflected on understanding the existence of man by using phenomenological methods.
He characterised the human condition with drastic freedom and groundlessness (Mastin, 2008). In his book, Being Nothingness, he outlines various forms of consciousness that lie beyond people’s experience, which involves investigating what is meant to be human. To be conscious means that one must be conscious of something; therefore, the definition depends on another thing.
In an in depth study of human, he comes up with two types of beings, which are ‘for-itself’ and ‘in-itself’. The later signifies autonomy and non-relational manner. This methodology gives one the power to create an extrinsic self identity. Sartre’s work gave people freedom of creating values for their own lives. On the part of the ego, Sartre acknowledges the existence of consciousness of the world and the ego.
Sartre proposes a high levelled procedure of understanding human consciousness, involving pre-reflective and reflective level. He further agrees that people tend to construe that the self is never present prior to a reflective consciousness (Mastin, 2008).
When a person thinks of anything, he/she forms a picture in the mind. In case the picture does not exist, then, there does not exist a universal structure thus the intention to be conscious is still unsuccessful.
Ethically, Sartre noted that conscious proceedings are spontaneous; therefore, emotional consciousness is pre-reflective consciousness. As a result, voluntary act is different from the pre-reflective act; it has the will, which exists in the reflective act.
This complex way of thinking discloses the key to understanding of the self, which has negating powers in it. Upon reflection, instability within the self is created, leading to the lack of self identity. Surely, the methodology supported a complex and valid distinction between two transcendence phenomena of beings (Mastin, 2008).
The two analyses of ‘for-itself’ and ‘in-itself’ reveal what is meant by being a human. Sartre’s philosophical methods give people an unlimited freedom of making varied choices, which are not due to their bad faith. But, the freedom has limitations, social and physical constraints. The life of an individual is similar to a project that is unfolding as one makes choices amidst the challenges that constrain the freedom.
In the end, a proper coordination of facts and transcendences help disclose an authentic man. One has to avoid pitfalls like bad faith and exercise his/her freedom diligently to continue understanding the nature of consciousness.
Man is what he makes of himself; he then realizes his existence first before using his ‘will’ in making choices that he/she can be held responsible for (Existentialism is a Humanism, n.d.). Since man cannot change everything, that is, power to change things is limited, despair arises. In addition, the future is fully controlled by someone else.
Postmodernism is a recent school of thought that claims that there is no clear reality that can be known objectively; it a relativistic approach that does not depend on absolute truth and objectivity. However, its way of thinking proved that reality can be experienced through objectivity. Manifestly, modernism highly objected subjectivity in arriving at decisions.
However, postmodernism does not agree with most of modernity aspects. Postmodernism believes in New Age thinking in arriving at truth (Introduction to Postmodern Philosophy, n.d.). Notably, after the renaissance, the use of scientific method changed the perception of understanding the world.
Then enlightenment (modernism) followed. The doubts on the ability to understand reality objectively by David Hume led to some instability in modernism. This in turn led to transition from modernism to postmodernism.
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was instrumental in this transition, as he out rightly rejected Kant’s theory that believed that all people perceive the world (reality) similarly; he supported the objective truth. Philosophers had to first grapple with textual interpretation.
On interpretation, the postmodernism philosophers agreed that objectivity cannot be applied in understanding the correct meaning of any written script. Therefore, meaning comes out through engagement in a dialogue with the original author.
Again, there was a problem on whether language could objectively reveal the truth. Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) concluded that this could not happen as language development is socially habituated; therefore, the truth is socially constructed, just like language.
Modernism recognised humans’ capabilities to find solutions that had been perennial since the medieval times. In addition, it respected human rights of expression. It did not also define the limits of objectivism and reasoning.
Postmodernism, on the other hand, came up to correct the already existing imbalance; for instance, by convincing us that we have a limited potential to comprehend and change the universe. In essence, postmodernism corrects the problems, but it over-corrects the problems (Introduction to Postmodern Philosophy, n.d.).
In the 20th century Michel Foucault (1926-1984) was among the great philosophical figures who defined the key issues of postmodernism. For example, a close scrutiny of the correspondence theory of truth that made people believe that scientific truths were equal to absolute truths was altered by removing the equivalency since no scientific researcher made an unlimited number of observations to show that such exceptions exist.
Postmodernism, actually, helps man in knowing that knowledge acquisition and explanations have limits. This reveals the cause for the drastic shift from modernism to postmodernism. Further, it holds on the coherence theory of truth, which supports that an idea remains true to man if it also coheres with other internal perceptions that man holds about the world (Introduction to Postmodern Philosophy, n.d.).
Nonetheless, scientists can still invent new methods of making people understand how the world works. For example, just as the discovery of the spherical nature of the earth was disapproved, early scientists believed that the earth is flat.
Although postmodernism overreacts on the coherence theory, the philosophers were correct in summing up that correspondence theory has its boundaries, being contrary to what modernism held.
Postmodernism promoted the willingness to borrow information from earlier movements and openness to diverse ideas from all places. It did not hold fixed definition to all terms. This movement promotes self-thinking, which can make people rebel following a defined curriculum and divert to their own understandings.
Social epoch affects one’s way of thinking. For example, sociologists make assumptions that humans have room to make their own choices and that social forces can shape the behaviour of people within a society. Clearly, social environments influence the way one thinks and possible course of action.
In the 18th century, Western Europe underwent social and technical changes that forever changed the whole world. For example, the invention of steam engine by James Watt in the year 1769 and invention of antiseptic barrier by Joseph Lister in 1865 impelled social changes in the entire world with the aim of solving some social and economic problems (Epochs in Philosophy and Socio-Economic Epochs, 2010).
Remarkably, this social group altered people’s thinking towards looking for solutions to the then world problems since massive inventions took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. Later, industrial revolution took centre stage in Britain, which prompted rural urban migration of people to secure jobs in the newly created industries.
This shows how social epoch affects the way of thinking of human beings in the entire world. From the historical perspective of the epoch, the global problems seem to be similar. A historical problem/issue will divert people’s attention in order to find solutions to it.
For example, researchers on HIV/AIDS have been receiving support from other new researchers who aim at discovering the new drug that can cure the disease (Epochs in Philosophy and Socio-Economic Epochs, 2010). The research has influenced the thinking of doctors, medical lecturers and their students from a historical perspective.
Both the social and historical epoch increases the thinking perspectives in the philosophical aspect, since every research has to be doubted, tested, understood, and then approved/verified for application in its respective field. Lastly, philosophical theories also base their assumptions on the culture or history of any given group.
References
Epochs in Philosophy and Socio-Economic Epochs 2010, Problems of the History of Philosophy. Web.
Existentialism is a Humanism, alexvermeer.com — understanding and mastering our brains to do cool stuff. Web.
Introduction to Postmodern Philosophy, Postmodern preaching. Web.
Johnson, L, 2007, The Enlightenment to Modernism: A Brief Examination of this Revolution in Thought and Society, Socyberty. Web.
Mastin, L, 2008, Existentialism: By Movement / School, The Basics of Philosophy: A huge subject broken down into manageable chunks. Web.
Postmodernism: Philosophy, Britannica Online Encyclopedia. Web.
Sigmund Freud, Letters, Arts & Social Sciences. Web.