Philosophy of Society

Philosophy of Culture

20th-21st Centuries

In the 19th century, people had faith in cultural, moral, and scientific progress, but the 20th century shattered these convictions. Revolutions and political crises across the globe, the redrawing of world maps, two world wars, horrific genocides and terrors, the division of the world into two camps ("the free world" and the socialist bloc), the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, concentration camps, and the arms race all demonstrated that humanity had not become more moral or benevolent. The Chernobyl disaster, the emergence of new diseases, and environmental issues revealed that science and technology had failed to make people happy. The markers of 20th-21st century culture became globalization and Westernization, signifying the formation of a unified cultural space dominated by the USA and Western Europe.

While the culture of the late Modern Age is termed "modern," indicating its novelty compared to the cultures of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and Baroque, the defining characteristic of 20th-century culture, especially its latter half, is postmodernism. This term is evocative: it signifies an era devoid of permanence, even in its name, thus implying "the time after modernity." The intellectual expression of postmodern culture is postmodernist philosophy. This era is characterized by a rejection of all standards and paradigms, manifesting as a protest against everything, a phenomenon commonly referred to as avant-gardeism. This is reflected in all areas, including art:

• Expressionism emerged in the early 20th century as an antithesis to Impressionism. While Impressionists aimed to depict the impressions of external stimuli, Expressionists sought to portray the very impressions themselves, independent of external factors. One of Expressionism's inspirations was Fyodor Dostoevsky, whose literature focused on the experiences of his characters.
• Dadaism, named after the French "dada" (a child's toy or babble), sought to create art that defied all logic and rational laws, such as collages of incongruous objects. Dadaists aimed to illustrate the absurdity and irrationality of the world and life, evolving between 1914 and 1924 and inspired by the meaninglessness wrought by World War I.
• Futurism, originating from Italian writer Filippo Marinetti's 1909 "Manifesto of Futurism," championed a vision of the future characterized by complete individuality and the destruction of all standards. Futurists created "sloppy" paintings without logic and, in literature, composed disjointed strings of words and sounds, while in music, they produced unconventional sound compositions, exemplified by Igor Stravinsky’s works.
• Cubism, an artistic movement predominantly expressed in painting, posited that art should not represent anything but exist for its own sake. Founders Georges Braque (1882-1963) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) depicted three-dimensional figures on canvas through precise geometric forms, notably the cube, which gave the style its name.
• Surrealism, emerging in the 1920s and meaning "beyond reality," also embraced illogicality and absurdity. Surrealist artists depicted distorted realities where the incongruous coexisted, exemplified by Salvador Dalí’s (1904-1989) paintings and sculptures.
• Socialist Realism, developed in the USSR and endorsed by the Communist Party, aimed to celebrate the achievements of socialism. Its artworks and literature depicted factory workers, collective farmers, or military heroes, glorifying socialist ideals.

The 20th century is marked by the flourishing of subcultures, representing cultural trends among limited groups opposing mainstream culture. Postmodernism spawned various youth subcultures, each defining their lifestyles:

• Beatniks of the 1950s-60s, characterized by men with long hair and beards in patched trousers and women in similar attire, who listened to jazz, read philosophical works, used drugs, and traveled extensively without settling in one place.
• Hip-Hop, a 1970s subculture marked by rap music, breakdance, sportswear, and graffiti.
• Punks of the 1970s, named from the English "punk" (scoundrel, prostitute), known for their protest against accepted norms and anarchistic activities, spreading chaos.
• Goths, emerging as a counterpoint to punks, distinguished by black clothing, vampiric themes, and an aura of introspective dread.
• Hippies, originating in 1965, protested traditional culture with values of freedom, music, flowers, happiness, drug use, free love, Eastern mysticism, and a visible disdain for employment, poverty, and formal education.
• Emo, emerging in the 2020s and named after "emotional," united teenagers around a focus on emotions, often fostering depressive states. The subculture fell out of favor due to criticism for encouraging depression and suicides and for fostering social isolation.

Postmodernism of the 20th-21st centuries critiques established religious, moral, social, and cultural norms. It is reflected not only in artistic styles and counter- and subcultures but also in the worldview of individuals from this era. Protest and critique became defining criteria of contemporary culture. Secularization opposes traditional religion, gender ideology contests traditional family structures, declining interest in education and art challenges the traditional cult of reason, and the rise of unconventional politicians questions established state systems. The pursuit of freedom protests against traditional restrictions. Postmodernism is unique in that, unlike previous cultural epochs that aimed to build something, it seeks only to dismantle traditions—and it succeeds in this endeavor.