Zeitgeist

Zeitgeist (pronounced [ˈt͡saɪtɡaɪst]^ⓘ) is a German language expression translated as: Zeit, time; Geist, spirit, meaning "the spirit of the age" and it describes the intellectual, cultural, ethical and political climate, ambience and morals of an era (similar to the English word "mainstream") or also a trend. In German, the word has more layers of meaning than the English translation; included in common understanding of the term is the allegation that Zeitgeist may only be observed for past events.

Origins

The concept of Zeitgeist goes back to Johann Gottfried Herder and other German Romanticists such as Cornelius Jagdmann, but is best known in relation to Hegel's philosophy of history. In 1769 Herder wrote a critique of the work Genius seculi by the philologist Christian Adolph Klotz and introduced the word Zeitgeist into German as a translation of genius seculi (Latin: genius - "guardian spirit" and saeculi - "of the century").

The German Romanticists, habitually tempted to reduce the past to essences, treated the Zeitgeist as a historical character in its own right, rather than a generalized description for an era.

See also

• Collective consciousness
• Meme
• Noosphere
• Vox populi
• Social identity

External links

• Christian Adolph Klotz
• Christian Adolf Klotz in: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4. Aufl., 1888, Vol. 9, Page 859
• Zeitgeist, History of Ideas

References

Zeitgeist. (n.d.) The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. (2003). Retrieved August 7 2009 from [1]