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Zeitgeist




is originally a German expression that means "the spirit ''( Geist )'' of the time ''(Zeit)''". It denotes the intellectual and cultural climate of an era. The German pronunciation of the word is ( IPA ).

The concept of ''Zeitgeist'' goes back to ) and introduced the word ''Zeitgeist'' into German as a translation of genius seculi ( Latin : genius - "guardian spirit" and saeculi - "of the century"). The German Romantics, habitually tempted to reduce the past to essences, treated the ''Zeitgeist'' as a historical character in its own right, rather than a mere conceptual instrument.

''Zeitgeist'' has achieved a unique status among German Loanwords in other tongues, having found an entrance into English , Spanish , Dutch and even Japanese .

It is a term that refers to the Ethos of a Cohort of people, that spans one or more subsequent Generation s, who despite their diverse age and Socio-economic background experience a certain Worldview , which is prevalent at a particular period of socio-cultural progression. Zeitgeist is the experience of a dominant cultural climate that defines, particularly in Hegelian thinking, an era in the Dialectical Progression of a people or the World at large. According to Hegel, the Zeitgeist always incarnated itself in a specific ''Volksgeist'' ("Volk" meaning "people"), which itselfs was personalized by an individual Hero , symbolized by Napoleon . Once the hero's mission was accomplished, history would abandon it as a dry shell, and the Zeitgeist be transferred to another ''Volksgeist'', where another hero would emerge to complete the unfolding of the spiritual Being in history itself.


QUOTATIONS


  • ''Whoever marries the zeitgeist will be a widower soon.'' - )


  • ''Opinions, that deviate from the ruling zeitgeist, always aggravate the crowd.'' - Germaine De Stael


  • ''The product of paper and printed ink, that we commonly call the book, is one of the great visible mediators between spirit and time, and, reflecting zeitgeist, lasts as long as ore and stone.'' - Johann Georg Hamann


  • ''Don't take any shit from the zeitgeist.'' - comedian George Carlin



IN POPULAR CULTURE

  • One of the first songs by '' Manic Street Preachers '' bassist and main lyricist Nicky Wire , which was available to the fans on the band's website, is called "I Killed The Zeitgeist".


  • Is the password for Gunther Hermann's E-mail account in the computer game Deus Ex .




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