{"id":48,"date":"2018-09-18T11:25:36","date_gmt":"2018-09-18T15:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/?p=48"},"modified":"2018-09-18T11:28:03","modified_gmt":"2018-09-18T15:28:03","slug":"on-what-basis-modernity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/we-moderns\/on-what-basis-modernity\/","title":{"rendered":"On What Basis, Modernity?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fragility of control plays a prominent if under appreciated role in Machiavelli’s\u00a0The Prince<\/em>. \u00a0In contrast to Lerner’s triumphalism (“I had it on top authority that during the summer of 1950 they had entered History”) or the harrowing implacability of “the Party” in\u00a0Darkness at Noon<\/em>, Machiavelli describes a world of constant variability and uncertainty. \u00a0No prince, no matter how savvy or cruel, can rest easy on his throne, circumstances and the variability of being his constant and insuperable foes.<\/p>\n

Machiavelli leads us to the conclusion that there are no universal solutions, no easy recipes or checklists to follow in pursuing “the modern,” however defined. \u00a0Origins, the circumstances of coming combine with unforeseen events to make modernization a project forever uncertain and under siege.<\/p>\n

We might ask, then, On what basis modernity?<\/em>\u00a0 The matter of legitimacy and authority has been at stake these past two weeks, whether of the Shah, of the multitude who comprise “the many,” or of the reasoning individual, who having adjusted his or her sights to the light outside of the cave, comes back to dispense capital-T Truth. \u00a0What or who is the source of modernity? \u00a0Might it be the individual, reaching for truth in the realm of the profane? \u00a0Or does modernity require the ballast of “fixed truths,” of a sacred authority that lies outside of the will and reason of the individual? \u00a0Might History be that source, or religion itself? \u00a0How might authority be reconciled to the individual will?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fragility of control plays a prominent if under appreciated role in Machiavelli’s\u00a0The Prince. \u00a0In contrast to Lerner’s triumphalism (“I had it on top authority that during the summer of 1950 they had entered History”) or the harrowing implacability of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1690,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[2],"class_list":["post-48","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-moderns","tag-we-moderns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1690"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48\/revisions\/55"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.williams.edu\/psci257-f18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}