Modernity consists in the destabilization of the subject, not mere progress

Evidence

This last point needs particularly strong emphasis when the affinity between modern life and holocaust-type murder is pondered. Indeed, this point is crucial if one wishes to comprehend the true nature of modernity as modality of being rather than any particular, concrete state of affairs already constructed, projected or adumbrated. Modern modality of being is characterized first and foremost by its endemic unfinishedness; by its orientation towards a state of affairs not yet in existence. To speak of modernity as an unfinished project is to commit a tautology. Modernity is by definition forever on the run, always (and incurably) noch nicht geworden. What is modern about any project is precisely its being a step, or two, or a hundred steps ahead of reality; what is modern about modernity is its inbuilt capacity to self-transcend, to push the finishing line further on in the course of running, and so to bar itself from ever reaching it. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 650 (#expands, via linked claim)

Modernity is universalising not only in terms of its global impact, but in terms of the reflexive knowledge fundamental to its dynamic character. Is modernity distinctively Western in this respect? This question has to be answered affirmatively, although with certain definite qualifications. The radical turn from tradition intrinsic to modernity’s reflexivity makes a break, not only with preceding eras, but with other cultures. Since reason proves unable to provide an ultimate justification of itself, there is no point pretending that this break does not rest on cultural commitment (and power). — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 407 (#expands, via linked claim)

Modernity is an inherently transgressive mode of being-in-the-world. Visions of order are born out of dissatisfaction with the existing state of things, and attempts to make them into flesh give birth to new disaffections and new, revised – and so deemed to be improved – visions. Modernity rolls and blends into one the act of drawing a frontier and the resolve to transcend it. All orders constructed under the aegis of modernity are therefore, even if only unintentionally, local, temporal, until further notice – bound to be reshaped before reaching fulfilment. ‘Modernization’ is not a road leading to a station called ‘modernity’. Modernization – continuous, unstoppable, obsessive and in many ways self-propelling modernization – is the very human condition the concept of ‘modernity’ stands for; obsessive modernization is modernity. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 651 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Modernity’s reflexivity rests on cultural commitment and power, not pure reason — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 407; Modernity is best understood as compulsive, self-propelling modernization, not a completed state — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 651; Modernity’s reflexivity makes its own rational grounds ultimately puzzling — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 124 (+4 more)

Related

• Modernity is defined by its endemic, incurable unfinishedness. (similarity 0.92)
• Modernity is best understood as compulsive, self-propelling modernization, not a completed state (similarity 0.92)
• Modernity’s core is an irreducible enigma that cannot be overcome (similarity 0.84)
• Modernity is the permanent urge to modernize, not a destination (similarity 0.84)
• Modernity is a universal maelstrom of perpetual disintegration and renewal (similarity 0.84)
• Modernity’s fleetingness revives a longing for permanence, against which progress itself appears as self-annihilation (similarity 0.84)
• Contemporary transformations are modernity’s self-radicalization, not its ending (similarity 0.83)
• Modernity’s reflexivity rests on cultural commitment and power, not pure reason (similarity 0.83)
• Modernity is defined by wholesale reflexivity, not merely love of the new. (similarity 0.82)
• Modernity is defined by the permanent compulsion to modernize, not by any achieved endpoint (similarity 0.82)
• Defeated anti-modern resistance persists latently and eventually uses modernity’s own tools (similarity 0.81)
• Modernity is defined by an permanently unfinished, self-transcending orientation toward the unrealized (similarity 0.81)
• Modernity’s reflexivity makes its own rational grounds ultimately puzzling (similarity 0.81)
• Radical break and continuity claims both fail without a temporal-analytic definition of modernity (similarity 0.81)
• Modern civilization was a necessary but not sufficient condition of the Holocaust. (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Modernity is defined by its endemic, incurable unfinishedness. #expands (0.85) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 650
• Modernity’s reflexivity rests on cultural commitment and power, not pure reason #expands (0.82) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 407
• Modernity is best understood as compulsive, self-propelling modernization, not a completed state #corroborates (0.80) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 651
• Modernity’s core is an irreducible enigma that cannot be overcome #corroborates (0.80) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 124
• Modernity’s reflexivity makes its own rational grounds ultimately puzzling #expands (0.78) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 124
• Contemporary transformations are modernity’s self-radicalization, not its ending #corroborates (0.75) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 127