BETWEEN SELF-REFLEXIVITY AND BARBARITY
BETWEEN SELF-REFLEXIVITY AND BARBARITY

Summary/Abstract: Present world should not be defined in terms of postmodernity, but in terms of reflexivemodernization – an idea previously announced by Nietzsche when speaking about “theshattering of values” (Nietzsche, 1931) and later on elaborated by Spengler, who pointedat the importance of the interpretation of the past cultures. A civilization produces to anextent it can interpret, in other words, the present world finds itself at the stage at whichreflexivity/interpretation holds the main productive potential. On the other hand, therecurrent effects of violence and destruction (barbarity) burden, exhaust and, in the end,block the creative impulses, therefore barbarity could create a social institution which nolonger produces meaning, but destroys and consumes it. This description could be appliedto communism and, within this paradigm, the intellectuals are to compete for a privilegedpolitical, journalistic, managerial and administrative place since they are the onesresponsible for the way how society is mentally perceived, given the fact that peoplemight have the necessary information on a given subject, but they might not have thesocial skills of interpreting and translating the information into adequate social action(Halloran, 1998).

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