The Paradoxes of Modernity

The Paradoxes of Modernity examines one of the central dilemmas of the modern world: How do we believe in ideas that we know to be untrue, but are of practical value? The modern world tells us to be critical and independent. And yet it also proliferates constructed ideas, from gods to ethical ideals to fictions. Using research from anthropology, psychology, religion, and philosophy, the book shows how the path to belief goes through narratives, communities, and rituals. These technologies help us realize belief in an age of unbelief, but they also call into question the central dogmas of modernity itself: the independent, critical, and rational subject. To be modern is to be caught between these two paradoxes: either incapable of believing in ideas we desire, or realizing them at the expense of modernity itself.