Zeitgeist

The Zeitgeist (spirit of the age or spirit of the time) is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought which typifies and influences the culture of a period. For example, the architecture and other art of the twentieth century was much influenced by the idea of modernism. The German word Zeitgeist is often attributed to the philosopher Georg Hegel but he never actually used the word. In his works such as Lectures on the Philosophy of History, he uses the phrase der Geist seiner Zeit (the spirit of his time)—for example, "no man can surpass his own time, for the spirit of his time is also his own spirit." Other philosophers who were associated with such ideas include Herder and Spencer and Voltaire. The concept counters the Great Man theory popularised by Thomas Carlyle, which sees history as the result of the actions of heroes and geniuses.