Is there anything romantic about modern life? I think this is a really interesting question because it’s so difficult to answer in our current political climate. If we look at American culture and government, it is clear America has deeply internalized Enlightenment values like rationalism, civilization, and science. It makes sense that the ideals of the Enlightenment have endured to this day in America because the country was born from this school of thought—many Enlightenment values are baked into our Constitution. The overwhelming majority of people think civilization is superior to the natural world, viewing the latter as chaotic, unordered. The way decisions are made is largely evidence-based, rational. Even in the humanities, there is a great deal of quantitative research.

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