What would these folks have to say about your Social Website? - The Moderns

There was a class of intellectuals from about 1500 -1800AD that people who like to philosophize and sound smart call “the moderns.” Which, maybe isn’t the smartest name because it was only modern to them then… But regardless of the name, they do actually have some good suggestions on our more modern world today in regards to social media and what makes a good social website.

 Check out below to find out what they have to say:

1^st There is a distinction between primary and secondary qualities upon which you should know if you are to judge a site correctly.

·         Primary Quality is: the inherent value of a thing.

·         Secondary Quality is: the value subjectively put into a thing.

Basically, the basic functionalities of a site are the primary qualities and the subjective experience you get from it are the secondary qualities.

But, if we’re talking about subjective things, who’s to say who’s got the best thing to say about what’s good and what’s not?

The moderns liked to classify this in three categories.

·         Things the masses say are good.

·         Things the experts say are good.

·         Things your friends say are good.

A good social website could lead you to content that is liked by any of these three ways to help YOU filter faster the good from the bad.

The moderns were also aware that sometime people don’t like things that are just given to them outright. They like to customize the things themselves. Come up with their own way of aesthetically designing their site or their user experience. This process of developing it themselves is what makes a site beautiful. A good site would give people the ability to do this.

Against aspirations to Platonic ideal forms in the heavens, the moderns try to ground their aspirations on earth in things that are actual and material now. Thus, much of the moderns moved from speculative metaphysics to a heavy reliance on all things empirical and truly made a “science” out of saying what is good or not.

Kant was one who tried to make a master standard upon which you could judge all sites. This ability to evaluate can make anyone a master critic as long as they know the standards upon which to judge and are unimpaired by anything else in their judgment.

As you look around the site, you will learn many of the standards given by both the moderns and non-moderns, but can use these standards to judge any site in a modern way.

Judge on!