Zeitgeist

The zeitgeist (/ˈzaɪtɡaɪst/, German pronunciation /ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst/ Zeitgeist (help·info)) is a concept from 18th- to 19th-century German philosophy, meaning 'spirit of the age' or 'spirit of the times'. It refers to an invisible agent or force dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. The zeitgeist (/ˈzaɪtɡaɪst/, German pronunciation /ˈtsaɪtɡaɪst/ Zeitgeist (help·info)) is a concept from 18th- to 19th-century German philosophy, meaning 'spirit of the age' or 'spirit of the times'. It refers to an invisible agent or force dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. The term is now mostly associated with Hegel, contrasting with Hegel's use of Volksgeist 'national spirit' and Weltgeist 'world-spirit', but its coinage and popularization precedes Hegel, and is mostly due to Herder and Goethe. Other philosophers who were associated with such ideas include Spencer and Voltaire. Contemporary use of the term may, more pragmatically, refer to a schema of fashions or fads which prescribes what is considered to be acceptable or tasteful for an era, e.g. in the field of architecture. Hegel in Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807) uses both Weltgeist and Volksgeist but prefers the phrase Geist der Zeiten 'spirit of the times' over the compound Zeitgeist. The Hegelian concept does not necessarily contrast with the Great Man theory as by Thomas Carlyle, which sees history as the result of the actions of heroes and geniuses, as Hegel perceived such 'great men', specifically Napoleon, as the 'embodiment of the world-spirit' (Die Weltseele zu Pferde 'the world-soul on horseback') Hegel believed that art reflected, by its very nature, the culture of the time in which it is created. Culture and art are inextricable because an individual artist is a product of his or her time and therefore brings that culture to any given work of art. Furthermore, he believed that in the modern world it was impossible to produce classical art, which he believed represented a 'free and ethical culture', which depended more on the philosophy of art and theory of art, rather than a reflection of the social construct, or Zeitgeist in which a given artist lives. A 'zeitgeist theory of leadership' has been contrasted with Thomas Carlyle’s great man theory by Forsyth (2009). In his theory, Carlyle stresses that leaders do not become leaders by fate or accident. Instead, these individuals possess characteristics of great leaders and these characteristics allow them to obtain positions of power. According to Forsyth, Leo Tolstoy disagreed with Carlyle’s perspective, instead believing that leadership, like other things, was a product of the 'zeitgeist', the social circumstances at the time. Great man theory and zeitgeist theory can be included in two main areas of thought in psychology. For instance, great man theory is very similar to the trait approach. Trait researchers are interested in identifying the various personality traits that underline human behaviors such as conformity, leadership or other social behaviors. Thus, they agree that leadership is primarily a quality of an individual and that some people are pre-dispositioned to be a leader whereas others are born to follow these leaders. In contrast, situationist researchers believe that social behavior is a product of society. That is, social influence is what determines human behaviors. Therefore, situationism is of the same opinion as zeitgeist theory—leaders are created from the social environment and are molded from the situation. The concept of zeitgeist also relates to the sociological tradition that stems from Émile Durkheim and recently developed into social capital theory as exemplified by the work of Patrick Hunout.