ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that modernity, which has popularized such cherished values as social equality and the inherent dignity of individual human beings, is not tied exclusively to the capitalist mode of production. As a concept, modernity does not have a singular core or essence, a causal center. Modernity’s many key features, the editors propose, need to be disaggregated and new configurations and combinations imagined. Such a move both helps to shift our gaze from the idea of European exceptionalism and opens up possibilities for new conceptualizations of a non-capitalist modernity based on a non-instrumental conception of nature, and even of rationality itself. Further, in considering modernity a shared and transcultural phenomenon, it goes beyond mere comparison to explore and establish connections and linkages in terms of how changes in and development of institutions and practices in one part affected and contributed to changes and developments in other parts of the world.
