THE IDEA OF MODERNITY

Earliest use
Idea of modernity conceivable only within the framework of a specific time awareness, namely that of historical time.
unrepeatable time - compatible with Judeo-Christian escahtological view of history
Associated almost automatically with secularism
idea of modernity born during Christian Middle Ages
Modernus==from modo--recent, just now
"Classic" first used in second century=="first class" Roman citizens, artistocrats
antonym is vulgar
Quarrel between the Ancients and the Moderns began in the Middle Ages--full-fledged by twelfth century
1126, Bernard of Chartres--We are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of a giant and thus able to see farther than the giant himself--idea of progress
Late sixteenth century--image revived as building on past
Isaac Newton praises Descartes, sees self standing on shoulders of giants.

Middle ages, static society, wary of change
Renaissance--energy and rejuvenation, practical concerns with time
Division of Western history into three eras--
antiquity--Classical antiquity associated with resplendent light
Middle Ages--nocturnal "Dark Ages"--term introduced by Petrarch
modernity--emergence from darkness--
"The people living in that 'renascence' thought of it as a time of revolution. They wanted to break away from traditions and they were convinced that they had effected such a break." [20]
Petrarch saw himself living in an age of transition
Saw immediate past as "dark", believed in "luminous" future (a revival of a previous Golden Age)--i.e. revolutionary way of thinking

THE IDEA OF MODERNITY