 the zeitgeist (spirit of the age or spirit of the time) is the intellectual fashion or dominant school of thought that typifies and influences the culture of a particular period in time. for example, the zeitgeist of modernism typified and influenced architecture, art, and fashion during much of the 20th century. 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)âfor 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 contrasts with the great man theory popularized by thomas carlyle, which sees history as the result of the actions of heroes and geniuses. hegel believed that art reflected, by its very nature, the culture of the time in which it is created. culture and art are inextricable because an individual artist is a product of his or her time and therefore brings that culture to any given work of art. furthermore, he believed that in the modern world it was impossible to produce classical art, which he believed represented a "free and ethical culture", which depended more on the philosophy of art and theory of art, rather than a reflection of the social construct, or zeitgeist in which a given artist lives.hendrix, john shannon. aesthetics & the philosophy of spirit. new york: peter lang. (2005). 4, 11. in the analysis of the arts and culture, the concept of a "spirit of the age" or zeitgeist may be problematic as a tool for analysis of periods which are socially or culturally fragmented and diverse.mike chopra-gant hollywood genres and postwar america: masculinity, family and nation in popular movies and film noir 2006 "the idea of zeitgeist as the spirit of the age demands a unanimity that is inconsistent with the fragmentation and contradiction that characterized american society and culture during the early postwar years. the concept of zeitgeist, therefore, is a problematic tool for analyzing the films and culture of the period: the idea of the spirit of the age is an impediment to the production of a reliable impression of an age 
German_words_and_phrases Philosophical_concepts Philosophy_of_history