Our present: The human condition in some mirrors of modernity and post-modernity

Abstract

This article text aims at taking up some ideas proposed by social analysts and philosophers that may illumine the scenario of our present world and the itineraries in which we are involved. On the basis of a brief initial historical introduction, it selects some attributes that express what has been characterized as modernity. Besides divergences about its “inauguration” minutes, there are also divergences around its real status. Modernity is, then, presented as a duality or a duplication, and the article discusses some of its counterpoints, such as the politics of antiquity and modernity, the idea of positive and negative freedom, utopian and conservative thinking and the idea of equality. Other aspects focused on in this paper are the constitutively technical character of modernity and the recession of transcendence. Finally, post-modernity is described in an exploratory manner through some images conceived by social sciences, taking into consideration the fact that its main ideas, although originated within the cultural sphere, spread to all dimensions of life in contemporary society: political, economical, social and strictly cultural.

Key words: modernity, post-modern society, idea of equality, negative freedom.