Modernism Vs. Post Modernism

Modernism vs. Post Modernism

The ideas of modernism and post modernism are fundamentally different. Modernism is the belief that human beings can improve their environment, using scientific knowledge, technology and putting all of those things into practice. Modernism is prevalent in the field of arts. The concept of post modernism looks at the ideas behind modernism and questions whether they really exist. (wikipedia)

Modernism began in the early 1800's. It emerged with Manet and Baudelaire in painting and literature respectively. It was initially called "avant-garde" and today it means to change the current state of being. In the late 1800's developments in science and technology dominated most of modernist thoughts. Some of the leading poets of the time were T. S. Eliot, and William Faulkner. The upsurge of modernism happened in the early 1900's. Painter and writers completely ignored the status quo and stunned everyone with their work. In the past no one had dared compose such works of art.

Following this disruption of the status quo, modernist though had acquired a bad reputation. It stood for rejection, and denunciation with the general public. Modernist however saw this movement as a way to create new art and technology. If everyone followed the standard way of doing things then the world would be at a standstill. There would be no technological development nor would we have intellectual advancement. Some of the greatest psychologists of our time emerged with modernist thoughts.

Areas such as music, literature, and architecture experience great advancements. In music, the twelve note technique (wikipedia) was developed and changed the way people write music forever. Different shapes and architectural pieces defined the way we build and design our furniture, buildings etc...

The great thinkers of modernism include Descartes, and Nietzsche. Rene Descartes had set out to prove that Aristotle's way of thinking was flawed. Descartes saw that mathematics could be applied to the real world and it needed to be. He started doubting everything around him to prove what exists and what does not. This had an overwhelming effect on science and technology. According to Nietzsche the way Aristotle thought was wrong. He took a different approach by writing "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" and it was a "self-styled cultural innovator who aspires to subvert the culture of modernityÐ'... By showing how Zarathustra can become a creator of new values, notwithstanding the forces that hinder his will to innovate, Nietzsche answers the skeptic who proclaims that new-values creation is impossible." (Williams)

Some argue that because of developments in media and the ways it is broadcasted, post modernism has developed into a new ideology. Its proponents say it is a different time period from modernism and its ideas are different. Modernists say that post modernism is simply an extension of modernist thought. According to pbs.org post modernism is "In essence, it stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. For this reason, postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person. In the postmodern understanding, interpretation is everything; reality only comes into being through our interpretations of what the world means to