Tradition and Modernity
The two concepts - modernity and
tradition are mutually inclusive. There is no modernity without the legacy of
tradition. However, the most defining trait of modern work of art is that it
"consists in a revolt against the prevalent style… and modernism does not
establish a prevalent style of its own; or if it does, it denies itself,
thereby ceasing to be modern" (Singh 13). Inferring from the above
citation, it would be more appropriate to say that modernity and tradition are
neither inclusive nor exclusive.
There are many questions on meaning and beginning of
modernity. Some believe that it began with the Renaissance, the Reformation,
and the discovery of the Americas; others claim that it began with the birth of
the nation-states and the institution of banking, the rise of mercantile
capitalism, and the creation of the bourgeoisie; others emphasize the
scientific and philosophical revolutions of the seventeenth century, without
which we would have neither our technology nor our industries. Each of these
opinions is partially correct; taken together they form a coherent explanation.
For that reason, perhaps, most cultural historians tend to favor the eighteenth
century: not only did it inherit these changes and innovations; it also
consciously recognized many of those characteristics that we now claim as ours.
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