Stephen Hicks, Ph.D.

Defining modernism and pre-modernism

Intellectual systems and movements are defined philosophically by means of their characteristic claims in the five major branches of philosophy: metaphysics, epistemology, human nature, ethics, and politics. As historical movements, they are defined by the time of their formulation and most vigorous activity.

So in the following table I offer a definitions of pre-modernism and modernism, each with the implicit genus “philosophical system” and a five-dimensional differentia.

Next: Defining post-modernism in contrast to modernism and pre-modernism.

[This chart is from Chapter 1 of Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (Scholargy Publishing, 2004). The chapter from which it is excerpted can be downloaded as a PDF at the Explaining Postmodernism page. The full book is also available at Amazon.com.]

Architecture and politics

How structures concretize a political system’s core social dynamic:

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Feudalism: Build walls to keep the enemy out.
Examples: the medieval castle, the Great Wall of China.
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Socialism: Build walls to keep your people in.
Examples: the Berlin Wall, the Koreas’ DMZ.
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Capitalism: Create glass wall storefronts to attract other people.
Example: the shopping mall.
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So here’s a question: Is the above a cheap shot or an essential truth?