Abstract Book of the 8th International Conference on Research in Social Sciences and Humanities
Year: 2025
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A Critique of the Atomized World
Hera Jung
ABSTRACT:
This study constructs an integrative framework for understanding the contemporary era, characterized as the age of atomism. Using a literature review as its method, it synthesizes and systematizes the works of Hubert Dreyfus, Sean Dorrance Kelly, Charles Taylor, Andreas Reckwitz, Byung-Chul Han, and Matthew B. Crawford. The study traces the historical-philosophical trajectory culminating in atomism, delineates the defining features of this epoch, and articulates a proposed normative alternative. Following the historical- philosophical trajectory, we have entered an era devoid of any overarching metanarrative that endows existential meaning to the individual. In such a modern context, the prevailing ethical ideal is the ethic of authenticity. However, the idea that existential meaning should arise solely from individual will is, in effect, a demand that each person undertake the divine-like act of creating meaning ex nihilo. Furthermore, the ethic of authenticity inherently contains a self-deconstructive aspect, which is further deconstructed by society. This results in confusion, burden, and frustration for the individual. Under these conditions, many evade choice through addictive behaviors or rigid epistemic closure. Atomism is closely linked to subjectivism, that is, a liberal agnosticism regarding the good. Within a socio-cultural milieu that offers no authoritative account of what matters, individuals become absorbed in affective immediacy and hedonic stimuli. Ultimately, those who have lost higher order or normative authority tend to gravitate toward increasingly intense forms of stimulation. This study organizes ethical and political-philosophical proposals formulated in response to atomistic individualism.
Keywords: choice, criticism, freedom, individualism, social philosophy