Re-Evaluation of the Self as a Principle of Modernist Thought - Essay Example

Discuss re-evaluation of the self as a principle of modernist thought. The reevaluation of self is important in the dis of modernity particularly as one of its principles mainly because individuals are participants in the collective values and practices and that they instigate the communal relationships in the society. This factor underscores how individuals today navigate through the cultural givens and how it leads them to reject or affirm these social artifacts. An argument that discusses this points to the idea that the possibility of reevaluation would illuminate how the modern individual is not absorbed by the communal or cultural apparatus but can to some extent wriggle out of it, distant himself from it, and thus be in a position to take a critical look at it; it also means that the communal structure or the cultural apparatus of society cannot foreclose the reality and meaningfulness of the quality of self-assertiveness that the individual can demonstrate in his actions.1 Individualism and Modernity The concept of the self or the individual has its roots in the Cartesian-Newtonian dualism that emphasized human subjectivity as well as the relationship between the objective nature and the Enlightenment’s conceptions of science and society. Newton, for his part, imagined and conceived the natural side of dualism while Descartes reinforced this with his concept of the individual – one that is detached and displaying a subjective inwardness. He stressed a fundamental separation of subjective domain to a different outer objective domain. This theory became his invaluable contribution to modernist thought as it remained, until now, the basis of modern thinking, being a disengaged subjectivity and the contemporary view of nature as a “spiritless” domain. Davis traced the development of the modernist concept of the individual from Descartes to Locke, stating: Descartes’ image of the self as a disengaged subject identifies the self with the power of reason by virtue of the self not being “in” the material world. Locke carries this image further in ascribing a power to the self to objectify the world.2 In identifying the relationship of conceptions of self as put forward by Descartes and Locke, one is led to the Cartesian conception of self, that seeing the individual as detached and disengaged from the world allowed him the freedom necessary in the acquisition of scientific reason and the means to reconcile science and religion. Adorno’s work, the Dialectic of Enlightenment specifically identified the Enlightenment as the major force behind modernity and that in his discussion of such relationship, the emergence of individualism is highlighted. In one of the passages of his book, for instance, he stressed: The Enlightenment has always aimed at liberating men from fear and establishing their sovereignty. Yet the fully enlightened earth radiates disaster triumphant. The program of Enlightenment was the disenchantment of the world; the dissolution of myths and the substitution of knowledge for fancy.. Knowledge, which is power, knows no obstacles: neither in the enslavement of men nor in compliance with the world’s rulers… Technology is the essence of this knowledge… What men want to learn from nature is how to use it in order to wholly dominate it and other men.3 What one sees here is a pattern spurred by the Cartesian theory on rationality, a departure from previous norms mandated by the state and theology. By looking inward and setting reason at the forefront of his faculties, the individual is able to gain knowledge and technology, which, because of its efficacy, has emboldened him to pursue this individualist path to greater heights. The writings of T.S. Eliot and David Ayers demonstrate several important lessons in regards to the individual’s experience that, for its part, chronicle the emergence of modernity. The Self in Literature In the Wasteland, T.S. Eliot depicted an image of the world with the recurrence of drought, cities superimposed upon cities, river upon river as well as other themes such as sex, failure, and family, among others. Through these images, Eliot was able to focus on the modern world within the context of the individual soul illuminating a stage in the evolution of man in his road towards modernity. In the Wasteland, the ills of society are described to be unredeemable by social institutions such as the state and religion and that it could only be cured, as with the case of Prufrock’s story, by a change in individuals’ emotions and ethics. The point made by Eliot is that the modern world has come to be the sum of individual souls and that the social problems are explored in the context of individualism. This discourse is within the perimeters of the nineteenth century thought posited by Spencer and Radenhausen, that “In the growth of the individual man the past evolution of the world is represented.”4 As Eliot take up this theme and explored it further, one would observe how he depicted an external world of human beings who are in constant conflict with each other. According to Cuddy: A tremendous burden is placed on the literary convention of hero and on the poet who moves, like humanity, from external concerns of social survival to an internal landscape of the modern mind which continues to suffer in isolation and loneliness. Eliot’s Prufrock embodies this archetype as he summarized humanity’s individualistic journey for experience and knowledge.5 David Ayers in his book, Modernism: A Short Introduction, takes off after Adorno’s observation mentioned previously. Like his source, Ayers credits the Enlightenment for the emergence of the self as a principle of modernity. He specifically upheld the position that people had to work in order to dominate nature lest it dominates them by being “dependent on it, unable to resist famine and flood, and unable therefore to assert human freedom. In the process of becoming independent of nature, people learn not to fear its forces but to harness them towards human ends.6 Ayer believed that that this dimension to modernity allows a powerful analysis of culture as it partly is responsible for some forms of cultural pessimisms such as the decline of religion, the end of traditional rural society and the fragmentation of society into specialized subclasses.7 Later on in his book, Ayer proposed that individualism today is supported by a kind of exclusion offered by an excluded group such as the Marxist and the feminist. Naturally, there are criticisms to the excessive emphasis on the self in modernity. These criticisms are diverse, a number are legitimate and deserved to be mentioned. For instance, Lawrence once declared in Lady Chatterleys Lover: The sense of isolation, followed by a sense of menace and of fear, is bound to arise as the feeling of oneness and community with our fellowman declines, and the feeling of individualism and personality, which is existence in isolation, increases.8 Criticisms There are Western intellectuals who attack recent modernity on the grounds that man is not wholly rational; he is of a complex nature; and, that unless the consequences or problems unleashed by Western modernity are seriously addressed and effectively tackled, in time it will negate the achievements gained, particularly of the long-term in regard to human development and the fulfillment of man’s potential, in effect bringing the whole scenario a tragic human anthology. According to Douglas Comer, as the emphasis on self permeates in the modern world, including the belief in the untrammeled freedom to ask questions and explore, as well as a notion that the world can be assayed without illusion and from a rational standpoint and that the individual is responsible for his own destiny, there emerge the realization that modernity bring about isolation, loneliness and disengagement; “a loss of vitality, of innocent pleasure in the given-ness of the world, and, most oppressively, that the world has no meaning other than what a person chooses to impart on it.”9 Conclusion As stated by this paper, the reevaluation of self as a principle of modernity is important because it allows for a better understanding of the latter concept. There is the faculty of self-assertion in the individual driven by his autonomous nature which, along with rationalism, has brought about the breakthroughs that would foster modernity. From the academic point of view, individualism is almost analogous to the way a society then distinguished itself from others through the boundaries, recognition, inclusion or exclusion, that rested to some extent between it and others and not on some intrinsic quality possessed by their members. In the focus of self in the modern world, one sees the differences among selves according to defining qualities such as intelligence, talent, moral rectitude, industriousness and so forth as opposed to the differences drawn by the different positions the members occupy in the social whole. However, the emphasis of the self in modernity has its own pitfalls. Through the writings of Eliot, for example, one sees how individualism has contributed to the grief and loneliness of people and the tragedy in cities. Because people started turning inwards, the ability to disengage became the norm - people disengage from relationships, from culture, from other people, and so forth. Here, it is easier to understand how individuals today came to believe that others or attachment to them is not constitutive of self, allowing them to disengage easily even to lack concern for others. All in all, one finds that individualism – the focus on the self – is fundamental in the emergence of modernity and vice versa, because they reinforce each other. Both are valuable, contributing immensely to the advancement of man. It must be underscored, as highlighted by legitimate criticisms – that both are not entirely good in themselves. Bibliography Adorno, Theor and Horkheimer, Max, Dialectic of Enlightenment (Verso, 1997). Ayers, David, Modernism: a short introduction (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2004). Comer, Douglas, Ritual ground: Bents Old Fort, world formation, and the annexation of the Southwest (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1996) Cuddy, Lois, T.S. Eliot and the poetics of evolution: sub/versions of classicism, culture, and progress (Bucknell University Press, 2000). Davis, John, The theory of the individual in economics: identity and value (New York: Routledge, 2003). Gyekye, Kwame, Tradition and modernity (Oxford University Press, 1997). Lawrence, Herbert, Lady Chatterleys lover, ed. by. Lawrence Durrell and Ronald Friedland (Bantam Books, 1983). Read More