Spirit of the times

Author: Karl Jaspers
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: This book, grounded in the reflective approach of existential philosophy (not the speculative historical philosophy type), depicts the profound spiritual and cultural shock accompanying the modernization process of Western society and the dilemmas it leaves for contemporary Westerners. In this "little book," the author provides a sweeping overview of the origins of the "sense of time" in Westerners (the sense of time is not inherent in humans; within Jaspers' thesis, it is a product of the turn in the spiritual life of Western culture in modern times), analyzes the spiritual principles of the bourgeois revolution, discusses the cultural prerequisites of technological progress and its role in shaping social transformations, and explores the opposition between democratic politics and aristocratic ideals.