Over the past centuries, an inspirational exchange of ideas using sophisticated language has been very stimulating; it gives many conversationalists the feeling that they have talked about something crucial and essential and might have somehow impacted global affairs.

Looking closely at conversations nowadays, there hasn’t been much change about reaching a sophisticated touch, but we can notice a language change; there is a more common parlance style and, specifically, an increasing use of trending words like Metaverse, Finfluencer, Fitspiration, Stan, Nomophobia, and “Zeitgeist.”

At this point, I want to focus on the word Zeitgeist. Zeitgeist increasingly appears in conversations about politics, movies, fashion, media, and show business. It has developed into an all-around expression.

This evolution generates questions such as where the word “Zeitgeist” comes from, what it means, its definition, and its usage today.

Zeitgeist is a German word that means ”Spirit of the age.” Its creator was the German poet and philosopher Johann Gottfried Herder, who used it in his work on aesthetics, “Critical Forests,” in 1769. In this treatise, he polemicized against Christian Adolf Klotz and his scripture “genius seculi” from 1760, where Klotz tries to create timeless toolkits and measuring criteria to track down characteristics of a specific era.

For Herder, Zeitgeist has something limiting and pressing. Even emancipated humans, liberated from religious restrictions, succumb willingly to Zeitgeist and refrain from the freedom of thinking. He’s convinced Zeitgeist reigns where traditional guidance and standards of conduct are missing.

Looking further, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) describes Zeitgeist as a social obesity, domineering, and hegemonic. On the other hand, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1837) sees an evolving spirit in Zeitgeist throughout history.

Analyzing the reasons that led to the French Revolution and generally the context of this decade, many authors requested that more reforms be applied to the European Continent due to the oppressive social vibe. So did Arthur Young, secretary of the English Agricultural Chamber, during his journey from 1787 to 1789 on the European mainland. He appealed to the governments of the states of Italy to submit to the course of history; he writes: “The wisdom applicable to the present moment is to watch the color and spirit of the age; to compound and to yield, where yielding is rational. „

The breakthrough of the term ”Zeitgeist” goes hand in hand with the reaction and reflection of the French Revolution. The collapse of the old order didn’t reflect only a social-political failure but also a spiritual one. A German contemporary of Arthur Young, Franz Josias von Hendrich, a member of the secret Government Council in Meiningen, was one of many who accused the Zeitgeist of having generated the crisis. He questioned: “First of all, what has initiated the Revolution? „ To give his answer: “The genius of this epoch, who has been tempted to withstand, instead of guiding him, not to follow the wrong path. „ Further, Hendrich explains that to start to change humans in their notions and ideas, someone should correctly explain those to them and not forget to consider the spirit of the time.

Looking forward in history, Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911) understands a limitation under Zeitgeist: people who live during a specific time in terms of their thinking, feeling, and desires are impacted by the spirit of the time.

The author and poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1929–2022) marks Zeitgeist as bigoted, and the one who only knows the present must become stupid. Another time, he states: “The one who entirely devotes himself to the Zeitgeist is a poor wretch. The search for innovation of the everlasting avant-garde has something castrating. „

Approaching the second half of the 20th century, the term “Zeitgeist” became a fashionable word. It described trends in a specific time and area of fashion, thinking, changing values, and lifestyle.

Due to this development, Matthias Heitmann, journalist and author of the book “Zeitgeisterjagd,” mentions in his book: “Zeitgeist today doesn’t turn against society’s deficiency but generally against people. We call this attitude misanthropy, which has unnoticedly infiltrated almost all areas of life. „

Nowadays, Zeitgeist’s impact on our lifestyle and spirit finds its expression through vocabulary, music, manners, clothing, and haircuts—an ideology whose roots we can see in youth culture, consumer culture, and affluent society. The longing to distinguish and differentiate from the previous generation initiates an alliance with the market’s commercial interests.

In summary, the term Zeitgeist, in its young development, has been used to refer to a considerable period like an epoch, with its political, social, and spiritual rationality, with a request to maintain the continuity of the age somehow.

Over centuries, as people have aged and evolved, Zeitgeist has become a term referring to short-lived phenomena, like trends that change rapidly. Furthermore, Zeitgeist has reached the tendency to represent a collective, trying to differentiate itself from the former, the old, and yesterday.

©2024, Vasiliki Papadopoulou.