In the modern political lexicon, such a concept as the “New Middle Ages” has already been firmly established. What does it mean?
The concept of the New Middle Ages has already found its description in the literature. For the first time N.A. expressed his opinion about this phenomenon. Berdyaev. This largest Russian thinker of the twentieth century in 1923 wrote a book called The New Middle Ages. In his work, the author indicated the signs of this period, but was mistaken with his onset for almost a century.
At the end of the twentieth century. The concept of the New Middle Ages was further developed. She became the subject of attention of Western philosophers and historians. The features of the New Middle Ages were quite vividly described by the modern postmodernist Umberto Eco.
What are they, signs of this new period? Let's try to understand this issue.
Definition of a concept
The New Middle Ages is a concept that some authors use to describe current social life or to create a futuristic scenario that implies the return of mankind to various norms, technological and social features, as well as to practices characteristic of the period that took place between Antiquity and New time (5-15 centuries).
The New Middle Ages, depending on the opinion of an author, is evaluated differently. Thus, some researchers consider this period to be the decline of civilization, while others consider it to be new opportunities.
Stages of human development
Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the New Age ... By these terms we mean the stages of development that European civilization once passed . Moreover, each era had its own unique quality. Despite this, Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the New Age are inextricably linked. After all, each of the subsequent stages has traits of continuity with the previous one.
From the Middle Ages to the New Age, mankind passed through the Renaissance. However, the last of these stages of development of society already carried all the features of the subsequent period. That is why it is believed that after the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the New Age - this is almost one period.
The heyday of ancient civilizations
Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the New Age are three great eras. All of them played their significant role in the history of Western Europe. In order to better understand the concept developed by modern authors, it is necessary to recall the path that humanity has gone from the Middle Ages to the era of the New Age.
So, let's start with a review of Antiquity. It includes the history of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece.
The origin of the culture of that time took place in Hellas. The ancient Greeks created a true standard of beauty in various fields, including music and sculpture, literature and architecture. The philosophers Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Socrates Archimedes and Euclid had a huge influence on the development of civilization in this state. The embodiment of the spirit of Ancient Greece was the Olympic Games, which included not only sports, but also religious, as well as theatrical processions. At the end of the fifth century, the state was captured by Philip, king of Macedonia, and after the collapse of this power, it became one of the provinces of the Roman Empire. This Greece has further enlarged the state, seeking hegemony throughout the Mediterranean.
The ancient Romans did not have their own culture. However, they managed to perceive and transform Greek. In ancient Rome, the institution of slavery was well developed. That is why in the country there were two classes antagonistic to each other. They were represented by slaveholders and slaves. To pacify the uprisings of the latter, as well as to conquer new territories in ancient Rome, an increasingly important role was assigned to the army, led by leaders.
The end of the antique period
The end of the Roman Empire came simultaneously with its conquest by the Germanic and other tribes. This allowed history in the chain of Antiquity - the Middle Ages - New Time to move on to the next stage. However, this period lasted quite a long time.
By the beginning of 2-3 centuries. The Roman Empire occupied significant territories. To restore internal order, as well as to protect borders and conquer new lands, she needed to maintain a huge army, which required enormous funds. To receive them, the citizens of the empire were charged with paying taxes. With arrears, citizens had to give their property to the treasury.
At the same time, slave labor existed in Rome. He impeded the development of the country. After all, slaves were not interested in farming and worked only under duress.
Despite this, vast wealth continued to persist and increase in the Empire. Circuses, public buildings and temples were built, celebrations and theatrical shows were held. In Rome and in other major cities there was a concentration of free people who were not engaged in free labor and parasitized at the expense of society. In order for the masses to maintain a spirit of obedience, the government provided them with "bread and circuses."
The main support of the Roman emperor was the army and officials. All this led to the fact that the military nominated only their representatives to the throne, who later were overthrown by other similar applicants for power.
The deepening crisis also occurred in spiritual life. The people were deprived of civil liberties, because of which there was a moral decline in society.
At the same time, there was a gradual movement to the south and west of the Germanic tribes, which in history are called barbarians. At the end of the 4th, the 5th and the first half of the 6th century, the Roman Empire was conquered by this, as well as by other peoples who had previously settled on its territory. The conquerors did not go a huge army. However, under their blows, the imperial system of government was destroyed. In the conquered territories, the first German kingdoms began to arise.
The advent of a new era
The Middle Ages is a period that spans more than a thousand years in the history of Europe. This is the era when humanity has been able to lay many of the foundations of today's world. So, in the Middle Ages , the development of languages. It is on them that so far many inhabitants of Europe speak. Moreover, by the end of this era, when the transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age began, many nations finally formed in these territories. And today their way of life, as well as the characteristics of psychology are not much different from the previous ones. In addition, it was in the Middle Ages that the majority of European states with their parliaments and judicial systems took shape.
Many researchers consider this period to be stagnant. They reinforce their opinion, in particular, with the fact that the education that was universal in ancient Rome was replaced by illiteracy. It is because of this that fiction disappeared in the Middle Ages. Literacy only monasteries, in which the monks kept records with stories about events taking place around.
In the Middle Ages, they were suspicious of any innovations. In new ideas, the church, which controlled many aspects of social life, saw only heresy. The apostates were punished very severely. All this led to the fact that the changes in the spiritual and social life, as well as in technology and science were insignificant. Europe seemed to be in its millennial hibernation.
New time
Changes in the history of Europe came only at the beginning of the 16th century. It was then that the transition of the Middle Ages to the early New Age took place. He was gradual. After all, any period at the end of an era cannot be marked with a specific date.
The transition of the inhabitants of Europe from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance and the New Age finally led to political democracy and the emergence of a market economy, to the adoption of a scientific view of the world, as well as an industrial and, after that, scientific and technological revolution.
According to experts, the final transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age in Western Europe should be considered the middle of the 17th century, when the English Revolution took place. How is the period that lasted from the beginning of the 16th century considered so far? It was a historical gap, called the eve of the next era.
Differences in the features of the Middle Ages and the New Age are noted in the formation of a special type of personality. So, earlier a person was primarily considered as part of a large or small team. It could be an estate or church, workshop, community, etc. With the advent of modern times, the foundation of human existence was the search for God in himself, communication with which was not necessary with the help of the church hierarchy. Thus, people were separated from the collective. Such changes were made possible by the Renaissance. This was the period when the feudal era came to an end, and the formation of early capitalist relations began. At this turning point, the birth of a new culture took place, which became unique in its expressiveness.
Today we know the differences that take place in the philosophy of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. New time brought with it humanism. The main content of this ideological basis was the cult of man. He was put in the center of the universe and had connections with the earthly and divine worlds. Thus, the philosophy of the Middle Ages and the philosophy of the New Age have significant differences among themselves.
People who lived during the Renaissance considered Antiquity an ideal historical period, the heyday of art and science, public life and the state. All this was destroyed by barbarians. And after the Middle Ages, the Golden Age received its second birth. Classical Latin was again used, which at one time was replaced by rude dialects. Hence the name of this era - the Renaissance.
The differences between the Middle Ages and the New Age also lie in the fact that for the first time in history, the most respected people who make up the state’s elite did not necessarily have a noble origin. They climbed the social ladder based on the principle of possessing certain abilities and knowledge.
Thanks to the Renaissance, a social movement began in Central and Western Europe, which went down in history under the name of the Reformation. Under his influence, the church unity of medieval Europe was completely destroyed. Any person could decide for himself what religion he should adhere to save his soul. All this left a definite imprint on the psychology of people. Those ideas that were expressed by the reformers literally transformed the whole of Europe. In the end, feudalism finally lost its position, and bourgeois relations replaced it.
Having examined the main canons of philosophy of the Middle Ages, Renaissance and the New Age, we can finally understand what is happening in our world today.
The collapse of the empire
As already mentioned, the Middle Ages in the history of mankind began with the fall of the Roman Empire, after which barbarians arrived who began to destroy the ideals and meanings created by it. If we transfer to today the conclusions of scientists made almost a century ago, it can be argued that similar processes are taking place in the modern world.
By superpower we mean the United States. Of course, many people think differently, believing that China can be called an empire. However, despite the rapid pace of development of China, most researchers believe that it is too early to do this.
What is the “decomposition” of the USA? According to analyst Jeffrey Oh , Neal, several components point to the beginning of such a trend. Among them:
- Crisis phenomena in the global economy, originating in the USA. This is a bloated market for lending to the country's population, and a financial funnel in which banks of America first find themselves, and then all the other states of the world. And the thing is that the people of the USA are used to living beyond their means. The ancient Romans did the same. They were always confident that they would share the loot from other peoples with whom the bloody warriors fought. The destruction of the Roman Empire occurred also due to insufficient cash reserves. The superpower of ancient times was fragmented due to the inability to finance its army at the proper level.
- Lack of a cohesive society. The cause of the collapse of the United States may be not only an economic factor. Today in American society it is difficult to talk about the existence of any kind of democracy or about consolidation before the law. Each of the communities existing in the country is trying to confirm its opinion. For example, Muslims speak out about the need to amend the laws of the country in order to obtain great powers by Islamic ideologists.
However, the onset of the New Middle Ages is possible not only due to the collapse of the state institutions of America. This is considered by many authors only as a special case. In our world, the destruction of states in general. Moreover, this process is quite global. For the first time, Henry Kissinger spoke of him.
Yes, the facade behind which the Empire is located is still intact. Any country in the world is still considered an independent arbiter of its own destiny. However, irreversible processes of the destruction of statehood are already taking place all over the planet. The philosophy of the New Middle Ages takes place in connection with the advent of new feudal lords. They are global corporations, gradually taking away from the state all its functions. So, if previously the repressive apparatus was only in the hands of the authorities, then today there is nothing surprising in the fact that companies that are influential in the world market have a hired private army, an analytical and intelligence service, etc.
Any plant or factory that is part of the corporation has the features of the New Middle Ages, as it is a kind of fortress with good security, its own internal regulations and laws. New feudal lords represented by corporations fully protect themselves. At the same time, not a single representative of state power is allowed to just enter the interior of the factory or factory.
At their discretion, corporations appoint or remove government officials in weakened countries and promote politicians in Western Europe. In other words, the state is gradually being squeezed out of the niche of real power.
Today, many negative phenomena are beginning to return to us from the Dark Ages. They relate to the decentralization of management systems, the chaos of economic influence and warring groups, eager for power. States are gradually losing the ability to control local and transnational forces, for example, the drug mafia and network terrorist structures. At the same time, the degradation of civilized and rational forms of social life begins. This phenomenon is especially vivid in third world countries. For example, in Latin America, gangs control vast metropolitan areas. And in the states of Africa there are wars between local armies representing the interests of local "feudal lords".
Local centers of power also occur in developed countries. All of them challenge the authorities and claim to create their own "mini-states."
The formation of human traits of the Middle Ages
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, as mentioned above, there was an invasion of barbarians. They destroyed the existing achievements, while forming a new type of person.
In the New Middle Ages, barbarians are represented by two groups. The first of them are those immigrants who came from the south and broke into the Empire (Europe), while violating the foundations of its existence. Arabs completely reject the laws of their host countries. They are alien to European morality and ideals. All their actions contribute to the destruction of the existing value system of the indigenous population. There are no such powerful destructive processes in the USA. However, this country also has its own immigrants. These are the Chinese, Mexicans, as well as representatives of other peoples who continue to live by their own laws.
The processes of the emergence of the New Middle Ages are also observed in Russia. There are also many problems with migrant workers, as well as in connection with the special development of the Caucasian region.
Another category of barbarians are representatives of the “generation of protest." These include informals and hippies, occultists, etc. All of them disregard the ideas of positivism, on which the man of the New Age was raised.
Consider the features that are characteristic of the representatives of the New Middle Ages.
Disintegration
A sign of the transition of mankind to the New Middle Ages is the emergence in the cities of ghettos and entire neighborhoods in which their laws are adopted. Social minorities living in such a territory oppose integration into the state and urban environment.
An example of this is Chinatowns in the United States and Muslims in Europe. This isolation is observed not only among immigrants. It takes place in the environment represented by the propertied classes. These people seek to move away from the city, surround themselves with their own infrastructure, which not only does not depend on the outside world, but also which is not subject to state laws. For example, in the USA and France there are many villages for oligarchs. Information about them is confidential. In addition, these settlements are sometimes not even indicated on the maps of GPS-navigators. The village of the New Russian Middle Ages includes the famous Rublevka.
Neo-nomads
Some people do not have a permanent home. They move around the planet and live where they see fit. A similar category of people is called new or global nomads. As a rule, they are representatives of free professions that are not tied to a particular locality. These are, for example, writers or freelancers. Such free nomads are the oligarchs. They have houses and apartments around the world, and they are also not tied to a specific place. At any moment, the oligarch can board a private jet and go anywhere in the world.
A similar institution of neo-nomads also testifies to the withering away of the state. After all, such people do not have that country to which they would treat as their own homeland. They consider themselves residents of the world and do not bind themselves with any obligations to the state. On the contrary, borders, visas, the need to serve in the army prevent them from living normally, limiting freedom.
The elitism of science
In the period of the classical Middle Ages, the layman did not have access to knowledge. Thus, peasants were told about the structure of the world in church sermons, and the higher nobility invited the monks who were consultants to them. Today, similar processes can be observed.
Science begins to hide from the layman behind the walls of elite universities and specialized towns, which are becoming increasingly difficult to get into every year. She becomes the fate of the elect. The layman is presented with only a simplified interpretation of various fields of knowledge.
Authority
After a person leaves logical and scientific thinking, he develops fanaticism and unlimited faith in a certain personality.
Typical representatives of people with medieval behavior are neopagans. They will never admit their authorship and will claim that everything that they talk about has already been said in antiquity. In particular, neopagans present their knowledge as existing long before Christianity. At the same time, they turn their eyes to the authority of their ancestors.
A similar phenomenon can be observed in politics. There is also an appeal to authority. Political groups of youth do not develop new concepts. Their main task is to select existing authorities and reference to them. These groups include the Stalinists and Leninists, liberals, etc.
Fanaticism
A similar trait is also characteristic of a man of the New Middle Ages. So, neopagans appeal to the authority of their ancestors, the Stalinists refer to the authority of Stalin, etc. And all this is so sacred for them that it is not subject to any doubt. Those who disagree with their opinions are ostracized and contemptuous. And this is the favorite thing of man of the Middle Ages. He seeks to insult his opponent as painfully and harder as possible, using social networks. At the same time, counterarguments for him are not even needed.
Uncertainty
According to Umberto Eco, this term is a keyword of the Middle Ages. A person in this period experienced constant fear. The current media is also contributing to this, telling us about the end of the world, the constant threat of environmental disaster, nuclear war, the collapse of the market and economy, the spread of the deadly virus, etc.
Muslim barbarians of Europe are also connected here. They spread fear and insecurity among people by robbery, rape and fights. The actions of the global Muslim terrorist movement contribute to this.
The people of the New Middle Ages are insecure. In them, in addition to mass fears, there is a belief in the conspiracies of Masons, Illuminati, reptilians, aliens, etc.
After considering the main features of the New Middle Ages, a simple layman will certainly have an idea about whether it is possible to prevent the development of this historical process. Yes, of course. However, this will require awareness of what is happening and the use of their own plan for constructing the New World.