Modernity’s self-image as rational depends on denying its own tacit metaphysics

Evidence

Modernity appears unique in the imperial and “civilization-defined” history of mankind, at least insofar as it is a complex system (perhaps too complex) that has failed to acknowledge and articulate its own metaphysical doctrine. Indeed, any attribution to modern phenomena of a metaphysic has invariably been articulated as a critique of, rather than as an internal elaboration of, the modern project. The denial of the metaphysical doctrinal structure undergirding modernity is, needless to say, deemed both integral and indispensable to the continued justification and survival of the project as a “rational” one—the assumption being that metaphysics is a commodity of myth belonging to a primordial past. — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 964 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Classical social theory defined modernity by the application of scientific rationality over tradition — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist…, 151; The irrationality of society did not justify abandoning dialectical theory — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2396; Neoliberalism exists to reverse modernity’s claims to self-determination — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 116 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Modernity survives by denying that it too rests on a metaphysics. #corroborates (0.96) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 964