The mediaeval mind lacked a conception of history as cause and effect

Evidence

This juxtaposition of the cosmic-universal and the mundane-particular meant that however vast Christendom might be, and was sensed to be, it manifested itself variously to particular Swabian or Andalusian communities as replications of themselves. Figuring the Virgin Mary with ‘Semitic’ features or ‘first-century’ costumes in the restoring spirit of the modern museum was unimaginable because the mediaeval Christian mind had no conception of history as an endless chain of cause and effect or of radical separations between past and present. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 82

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines pre-modern temporality against modern historical consciousness — the load-bearing distinction that makes ‘homogeneous empty time’ intelligible.
• XREF: This pre-modern/modern temporality split scaffolds later distinctions in the field between genealogical time and biopolitical time-management of populations. — connects to: Modern history shows grotesque disparities between causes and effects; ‘Homogeneous empty time’ replaced mediaeval simultaneity as the modern mode of apprehension — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 86; Humanism created a consciousness of historical depth that earlier epochs lacked. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on…, 286 (+4 more)

Related

• Scientific theories are superstructures explained by history, not causes of it. (similarity 0.87)
• Modern history shows grotesque disparities between causes and effects (similarity 0.86)
• ‘Homogeneous empty time’ replaced mediaeval simultaneity as the modern mode of apprehension (similarity 0.82)
• Humanism created a consciousness of historical depth that earlier epochs lacked. (similarity 0.80)
• The novel’s rejection of origin-genealogies marks its secular, empty-time form (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Humanism created a consciousness of historical depth that earlier epochs lacked. #corroborates (0.78) — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 286
• Understanding arises only from perceiving causal links among facts, not from the facts themselves #expands (0.72) — Janet Burroway; Elizabeth Stuckey-French; Ned Stuckey-French, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edition, 471
• African thought has no concept of history ending or reaching a climax #corroborates (0.72)