[January 2004 journal entry] [1/04]
I am cautiously/modestly modern in that I stand apart from a fundamentalist disposition toward ‘modern’ as a tradition. But I cannot with integrity and candid (unrestricted) self-knowledge do other than identify myself as modern. I think cautious and modest indicate appropriate/necessary (1) recognition of the adolescent dispositions/actions early in the modern era (as Kant noted in his What Is ‘Enlightenment’? essay) and (2) recognition of the criticisms of the minority of post-modernists whom I take seriously because they take life seriously (rather than spin a literary and/or academic career by parasitically feeding off ‘modern’). I remain deeply concerned that ‘post’ inappropriately and inaccurately diminishes/dismisses ‘modern’. Moving from/past Newton to/past Einstein (1) does not eclipse or nullify all aspects/use of a Newtonian view of the world, (2) does not justify reaching back to or reasserting a pre-Newton view of the world, (3) does not discredit Newton-era critical assessments of pre-modern views of the world.
