<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

As the world is struggling with the Covid crisis and its numerous aftereffects, it is easy to forget that the present pandemic is only the latest of a whole series of paradigm-changing 21st-century crises. Indeed, the word “crisis” has become one of the key concepts for the understanding of the early 21st century. Thus, crisis seems very much to be the default position of the 21st century, the new norm. In this paper, I argue that the 21st century has a recognizably different cultural logic from what the previous one had: most of our social, ideological, political, financial, and ecological paradigms are either changing or will (or must) change soon. As most of our critical concepts, intellectual tools, and ideological frameworks were made during the boom years of the late 20th century, they are clearly outdated and inadequate today. Thus, in this paper, through taking account of these shifting intellectual and artistic paradigms, I attempt to indicate how the present crisis of knowledge and sense-making may be turned into a process of knowing and making sense of crisis, and thus help us meet the challenges of the new century. It is often through these fault-lines, breakdowns, and inconsistencies of our narratives that one may recognize those pre-crisis assumptions that we have to critically re-evaluate and update in order to understand the new century.1
</abstract>

As the world is struggling with the Covid crisis and its numerous aftereffects, it is easy to forget that the present pandemic is only the latest of a whole series of paradigm-changing 21st-century crises. Indeed, the word “crisis” has become one of the key concepts for the understanding of the early 21st century. Thus, crisis seems very much to be the default position of the 21st century, the new norm. In this paper, I argue that the 21st century has a recognizably different cultural logic from what the previous one had: most of our social, ideological, political, financial, and ecological paradigms are either changing or will (or must) change soon. As most of our critical concepts, intellectual tools, and ideological frameworks were made during the boom years of the late 20th century, they are clearly outdated and inadequate today. Thus, in this paper, through taking account of these shifting intellectual and artistic paradigms, I attempt to indicate how the present crisis of knowledge and sense-making may be turned into a process of knowing and making sense of crisis, and thus help us meet the challenges of the new century. It is often through these fault-lines, breakdowns, and inconsistencies of our narratives that one may recognize those pre-crisis assumptions that we have to critically re-evaluate and update in order to understand the new century.1

Post-Crisis Reckoning: Making Sense of Early 21st-Century Civilizational Ruptures

Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Philologica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Post-Crisis Reckoning: Making Sense of Early 21-Century Civilizational Ruptures

As the world is struggling with the Covid crisis and its numerous aftereffects, it is easy to forget that the present pandemic is only the latest of a whole...

Post-Crisis Reckoning: Making Sense of Early 21^st-Century Civilizational Ruptures

Publié en ligne: 29 nov. 2021

Pages: 1 - 17

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausp-2021-0001

Mots clés
crisis of knowledge, 21 century, ideological crisis, modernity, Covid pandemic

© 2021 György Kalmár, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Post-Crisis Reckoning: Making Sense of Early 21st-Century Civilizational Ruptures

Publié en ligne: 29 nov. 2021

Pages: 1 - 17

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ausp-2021-0001

Mots cléscrisis of knowledge, 21 century, ideological crisis, modernity, Covid pandemic

© 2021 György Kalmár, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Post-Crisis Reckoning: Making Sense of Early 21^st-Century Civilizational Ruptures

Mots clés
crisis of knowledge, 21 century, ideological crisis, modernity, Covid pandemic