The Age of anxiety
Western culture has been through what has been described as an Age of Faith, an Age of Enlightenment, an Age of Science, and so on. What label best describes our present age? Perhaps the Age of the Screen captures how, like no age prior, we live much of our conscious lives on glowing rectangles. Perhaps the Age of the Gavel to express how the ubiquitous judgmentalism, cancellations, and holier-than-thou attitudes have supplanted meaningful discourse, especially on social media. Perhaps the Age of Polarization to express just how incapable many have become of seeing any insight or moral value whatsoever in the opposing political party. There is truth in all of those. Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor prefers the moniker of “the Age of Authenticity” to express that being true to ourselves has become the highest goal in the West. Princeton’s Robert George has called it the “Age of Feeling.” Both philosophers are correct to point out that allegiance to our emotions, is the idea that real