Wendell Berry's Modernity

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Wendell Berry’s Modernity Our western society can be characterized by many facets: its monopoly on violence, double-movement, total economy, taxes, technological singularity, and high modernity. Respective to these issues are authors Max Weber, Karl Polanyi, Wendell Berry, Henry David Thoreau, Jarod Lanier and James C. Scott. Each author engages in a unique discussion of the political classifications of modernity. Of the six authors, I did not find any to be particularity persuasive in their arguments’ entirety; however, I found some of Berry’s suggestions to be particularly fascinating. While his proposals may be bereft of practicality, acknowledging the issues he points out is principal in developing an ethically healthy political and societal life in modernity. Berry emphasizes in his essays “What Matters” and “The Idea of a Local Economy” the moral imperative of abolishing the decadent consumerism that has plagued the environment and been the cause of many social ills, and instead replacing it with agrarian locality. Berry makes concrete claims with legitimate issues behind his suggestions. Berry submits that people should forfeit engaging in hasty commerce, what he labels as the “total economy”, because of the environmental degradation it has caused, stating “the fossil fuels we have so regardlessly extracted and burned cannot be unburned. The topsoils and forests and watersheds destroyed by mining will not be replenished in a time imaginable by humans.” (“What Matters”, 32). Berry warns that if this decadent consumerism continues, human life will face catastrophic failure. While Berry does not take the time to elaborate on the evidence of these claims, it would not be presumptuous to assume them as true given the lack of skepticism in the scientific community regarding these sorts of reports. Additionally, Berry takes offense to the exploitation of meek
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