Few words are more commonly used in our modern world than the word modern itself. The modernity of manufactured articles, of institutions, of attitudes, of works of art is constantly brought to our attention.
We ourselves may well be judged by whether we are modern or not; indeed, many people go to considerable lengths to make quite certain that they will be accepted as modern — modern in their dress, their behaviour, their beliefs. And yet, we may ask, must not earlier generations have felt precisely the same Surely men throughout history must have recognized themselves as modern. Surely innovators like Julius Caesar, Peter the Great or Oliver Cromwell saw themselves as breaking with the past, as establishing a new order. (Must they not also have shared our awareness of the significance of what is modern) What is modern is distinct from what belongs to the past and men in earlier times must have experienced this sense of distinctiveness. Men cannot escape, and neve
A. very vulgar
B. in frequent use
C. insufficiently precise
D. used by the common people
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