Modernity’s core is an irreducible enigma that cannot be overcome

Evidence

Modernity turns out to be enigmatic at its core, and there seems no way in which this enigma can be “overcome.” We are left with questions where once there appeared to be answers, and I shall argue subsequently that it is not only philosophers who realise this. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 124

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Modernity institutionalises doubt, making all knowledge claims inherently circular — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 408; Contemporary transformations are modernity’s self-radicalization, not its ending — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 127; Modernity’s reflexivity makes its own rational grounds ultimately puzzling — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 124 (+6 more)

Related

• Modernity’s reflexivity makes its own rational grounds ultimately puzzling (similarity 0.91)
• Modernity institutionalises doubt, making all knowledge claims inherently circular (similarity 0.88)
• Modernity’s reflexivity subverts reason’s claim to certitude. (similarity 0.87)
• The feeling that systematic knowledge is impossible stems from uncontrollable modern events, not epistemology (similarity 0.87)
• Contemporary transformations are modernity’s self-radicalization, not its ending (similarity 0.86)
• Modernity consists in the destabilization of the subject, not mere progress (similarity 0.84)
• Modernity’s reflexivity rests on cultural commitment and power, not pure reason (similarity 0.83)
• Modernity is defined by its endemic, incurable unfinishedness. (similarity 0.82)
• Modernity is defined by wholesale reflexivity, not merely love of the new. (similarity 0.82)
• Modernity is best understood as compulsive, self-propelling modernization, not a completed state (similarity 0.81)
• Modernity’s ending is the loss of belief in human control over existence. (similarity 0.81)
• Under modernity no knowledge is certain, in any science. (similarity 0.79)
• New social knowledge alters the social world rather than merely describing it (similarity 0.79)
• Circular theory that merely reaffirms known political conclusions produces no new knowledge. (similarity 0.78)
• Skepticism, modernism’s tool, is itself what killed the modern project. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Modernity is a runaway engine that permits partial steering but never full control #corroborates (0.70) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 334
• Modernity’s reflexivity rests on cultural commitment and power, not pure reason #expands (0.60) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 407
• The gravest modern dangers are counterfactually unreal and thus numbing #corroborates (0.55) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 325
• The feeling that systematic knowledge is impossible stems from uncontrollable modern events, not epistemology #expands (0.50) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 19