The Problem of Modernity – A Spiritual Crisis in Essence
Friday 28th March, 6pm GMT Online/Zoom Tickets £12
Book now on The Fintry Trust website
Join us for what promises to be a deeply thoughtful and reflective talk. Dr Brendan O’Byrne from Trinity College Dublin will explore The Problem of Modernity – A Spiritual Crisis in Essence. There seems to be a broad and growing consensus that something has gone very wrong with Western civilisation, and we are all more or less familiar with the differing (and sometimes conflicting) accounts of what that might be.
In his talk, Brendan will run through what he believes is at the very root of this crisis. At the philosophical level, the crisis originates in the Middle Ages in a difference over how Aristotle is to be understood. Having set out what is at stake in this dispute, Brendan will move on to address some of the marks of modernisation, for example, the dominance of technical and scientific rationality and its concomitants; the disenchantment of the world, uprootedness, and alienation. While he does not propose a solution, Brendan does want to make the point that no solution is possible unless and until we have correct analyses of the problem. However, and if time permits, he will have something to say about what we might be able to do as individuals.
Brendan studied for his PhD under the renowned Platonic scholar Professor John M. Dillon and began teaching in Trinity College Dublin in the mid-1990s. His area of speciality is ancient philosophy, particularly the Platonic tradition.
