Trento, Italy

Philosophy and the Languages of Modernity

Filosofia e linguaggi della modernità

Master's
Table of contents

Philosophy and the Languages of Modernity at University of Trento

Language: ItalianStudies in Italian
Subject area: humanities
University website: www.unitn.it

Definitions and quotes

Modernity
Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era), as well as the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in the wake of Renaissance, in the "Age of Reason" of 17th-century thought and the 18th-century "Enlightenment".
Philosophy
Philosophy (from Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom") is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570–495 BCE). Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation. Classic philosophical questions include: Is it possible to know anything and to prove it? What is most real? Philosophers also pose more practical and concrete questions such as: Is there a best way to live? Is it better to be just or unjust (if one can get away with it)? Do humans have free will?
Modernity
The more ideas have become automatic, instrumentalized, the less does anybody see in them thoughts with a meaning of their own. They are considered things, machines. Language has been reduced to just another tool in the gigantic apparatus of production in modern society.
Max Horkheimer, Eclipse of Reason (1947), pp. 21-22
Philosophy
Philosophy makes progress not by becoming more rigorous but by becoming more imaginative.
Richard Rorty, introduction to Truth and Progress: Philosophical Papers, Volume 3 (1998).
Modernity
The thoroughly well-informed man—that is the modern ideal. And the mind of the thoroughly well-informed man is a dreadful thing. It is like a bric-à-brac shop, all monsters and dust, with everything priced above its proper value.
Oscar Wilde, Lord Henry in The Picture of Dorian Gray, ch. 1, Complete Works (New York: 1989), p. 25
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