Modernity and The Age of Enlightenment

When talking about the concept of modernity, most people will probably think such concept is related to the contemporary era they live in where many advanced technology present in everyday life. In this so-called modern era, people from different regions and cultural backgrounds share many similar characteristics, such as their daily technology or civilization, general knowledge and science, and even the way they dressed. In fact, many characteristics or values that are different with those shared contemporary characteristics or values are often labelled as “traditional” or “alternative”. Some people believed that the beginning of modernity was marked by the age of Enlightenment where rationalism prevailed. Nevertheless, others believe that the seed of modernity had been planted even before such era. Using Stuart Hall’s work, The West and the Rest: Discourse of Power (1995) as primary reference, this essay will try to explore the root of modernity which dated back to the European exploration and colonialism era. In this essay, the concept of modernity will be mainly viewed as a cultural phenomenon caused by the domination of European values over other cultures throughout the world which results in the universality of the modern societies.

Roberts (1985) cited in Hall (1996, p.187) define the modern history as “…the approach march to the age dominated by the West". In order to have a better understanding on such definition, we must first observe the established meaning of the so-called “the West”. According to Hall, in the discourse of the West and the Rest, the concept of the West is not simply based on geographical location, but rather on a type of society arising in the sixteenth century in Europe which shared a number of simi...

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...her cultures would have eventually found their own ways towards civilization had they not contested with the West cultures in the past.

Source:

Hall, Stuart. "The West and the Rest: 1 - Introduction." Modernity: an Introduction to Modern Societies. Eds. Stuart Hall, David Held, Don Hubert and Kenneth Thompson. 1996. Blackwell Publishers, Ltd.: Oxford. pp. 185 – 189

Losurdo, Domenico. "Chapter 1: What is Liberalism?" Liberalism: a Counter-History. 2011. Verso: London & New York. pp. 1 - 34

Works Cited

Hall, Stuart. "The West and the Rest: 1 - Introduction." Modernity: an Introduction to Modern Societies. Eds. Stuart Hall, David Held, Don Hubert and Kenneth Thompson. 1996. Blackwell Publishers, Ltd.: Oxford. pp. 185 – 189

Losurdo, Domenico. "Chapter 1: What is Liberalism?" Liberalism: a Counter-History. 2011. Verso: London & New York. pp. 1 - 34