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Two Cheers for Modernity
Author(s) -
Hall John A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
history compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.121
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 1478-0542
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2012.00845.x
Subject(s) - modernity , argument (complex analysis) , reading (process) , aesthetics , epistemology , simple (philosophy) , sociology , philosophy , psychology , medicine , linguistics
Michael McKeon’s great The Secret History of Domesticity has at its core a powerful, well‐articulated view of the nature of modernity. This paper engages with that view. The argument of this essay is simple: McKeon does not give sufficient attention to alternative views of modernity – or, if you like, to tensions with modernity. This matters: his view of modernity is slightly too optimistic – as indeed a closer reading of Smith and Hume proposed here makes clear