Modernity refers to the broad conditions of modern society, including rationalization, science and technology, capitalism, state institutions, individualism, and secularization.
Modernity matters because most of us live within its consequences. Cities, schools, corporations, states, markets, news systems, and technologies shape modern persons. Philosophy asks whether modernity is liberation or alienation. It brings freedom, science, and rights, but also anxiety, bureaucratic control, consumerism, and crises of meaning. The age of AI is not simply beyond modernity; it may intensify modern technical rationality. To understand modernity is to understand why modern people have greater capacities while often feeling more uncertain, isolated, and unable to find a stable place in the world.
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