Zeitgeist

{{Further|Phenomenology of the Spirit|Weltgeist|Volksgeist|Hegelianism}}

Hegel in Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807) uses both Weltgeist and Volksgeist, but prefers the phrase Geist der Zeiten "spirit of the times" over the compound Zeitgeist.

cf. use of the phrase {{lang|de|der Geist seiner Zeit}} ("the spirit of his time") in Lectures on the Philosophy of History, for example, "no man can surpass his own time, for the spirit of his time is also his own spirit." {{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khvwPJMzNzMC |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=khvwPJMzNzMC&q=Zeitgeist&pg=PA262 |title=The Hegel Dictionary |author=Glenn Alexander Magee |publisher=A & C Black |location=London |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-847-06591-9 |chapter=Zeitgeist (p. 262)}}

The Hegelian concept is in contrast to the Great Man theory propounded by Thomas Carlyle, which sees history as the result of the actions of heroes and geniuses. In contrast, Hegel perceived such "great men", specifically Napoleon, as the "embodiment of the world-spirit" (Die Weltseele zu Pferde "the world-soul on horseback"Hegel, letter of 13 October 1806 to F. I. Niethammer, no. 74 (p. 119) in Briefe von und an Hegel ed. Hoffmeister, vol. 1 (1970).

See also H. Schnädelbach in Wolfgang Welsch, Klaus Vieweg (eds.), Das Interesse des Denkens: Hegel aus heutiger Sicht,

Wilhelm Fink Verlag (2003), [https://books.google.com/books?id=NrkPdUO5VRsC&pg=PA233 p. 223],

T. Pinkard, Hegel: A Biography, (2000), p. 228.).Forsyth, D. R. (2009). Group dynamics: New York: Wadsworth. [Chapter 9] Carlyle stresses that leaders do not become leaders by fate or accident. Instead, these individuals possess characteristics of great leaders and these characteristics allow them to obtain positions of power.

According to Hegel biographer D. R. Forsyth, Leo Tolstoy disagreed with Carlyle's perspective, instead believing that leadership, like other things, was a product of the "zeitgeist",{{year needed|date=March 2018}}{{page needed|date=March 2018}} the social circumstances at the time.

Great Man theory and zeitgeist theory may be included in two main areas of thought in psychology. For instance, Great Man theory is very similar to the trait approach. Trait researchers are interested in identifying the various personality traits that underline human behaviors such as conformity, leadership, or other social behaviors. Thus, they agree that leadership is primarily a quality of an individual and that some people are pre-dispositioned to be a leader whereas others are born to follow these leaders. In contrast, situationist researchers believe that social behavior is a product of society. That is, social influence is what determines human behaviors. Therefore, situationism is of the same opinion as zeitgeist theory—leaders are created from the social environment and are molded from the situation. The concept of zeitgeist also relates to the sociological tradition that stems from Émile Durkheim and recently developed into social capital theory as exemplified by the work of Patrick Hunout.

These two perspectives have been combined to create what is known as the interactional approach to leadership. This approach asserts that leadership is developed through the mixing of personality traits and the situation. Further, this approach was expressed by social psychologist Kurt Lewin by the equation B = f(P, E) where behavior (B) is a function (f) of the person (P) and the environment (E).

Executives, venture capitalists, journalists, and authors have argued that the idea of a zeitgeist is useful in understanding the emergence of industries, simultaneous invention, and evaluating the relative value of innovations. Malcolm Gladwell argued in his book, Outliers, that entrepreneurs who succeeded often share similar characteristics—early personal or significant exposure to knowledge and skills in the early stages of a nascent industry. He proposed that the timing of involvement in an industry, and often in sports as well, affected the probability of success. In Silicon Valley, a number of people (Peter Thiel, Alistair Davidson, Mac Levchin, Nicholas G. Carr, Vinod Khosla{{cite web|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/view/428526/silicon-valleys-trouble-with-innovation/|title=Silicon Valley's Trouble with Innovation|work=MIT Technology Review}}) have argued that much innovation has been shaped by easy access to the Internet, open source software, component technologies for both hardware and software (e.g., software libraries, software as a service), and the ability to reach narrow markets across a global market. Peter Thiel has commented: "There is so much incrementalism now."{{cite web|url=http://topics.bloomberg.com/peter-thiel/ |title=Peter Thiel|work=Bloomberg}}{{full citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In a zeitgeist market, the number of new entrants is high, differentiation in high-value products (the strongest predictor of new product success) is more difficult to achieve, and business models emphasizing service and solution over product and process, will enhance success. Examples include innovation in product experience, legal rights and bundling, privacy rights, and agency (where businesses act on behalf of customers).{{cite web|url=http://www.technologyreview.com/qa/428186/max-levchin/ |title=Max Levchin|work=MIT Technology Review|first = Conor|archive-date = 20 January 2013|date = 19 June 2012|last = Myhrvold|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130120044747/http://www.technologyreview.com/qa/428186/max-levchin/ }}{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304141204577508820786062502 |title=Why Modern Innovation Traffics in Trifles - WSJ|author=Nicholas Carr|date=6 July 2012|work=WSJ}}{{cite web|url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/khosla-the-silicon-valley-vision/|title= Vinod Khosla: Maintain the Silicon Valley Vision|author= Vinod Khosla |work= The New York Times|date= 13 July 2012}}{{cite web|url=http://www.eclicktick.com/innovationzeitgeist/|title=The Book - Innovation Zeitgeist|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150923232954/http://www.eclicktick.com/innovationzeitgeist/|archive-date = 23 September 2015|work= eclicktick.com}}

• {{annotated link|Geist|Geist}}
• {{annotated link|Geisteswissenschaft|Geisteswissenschaft}}
• {{annotated link|Invisible hand}}
• {{annotated link|Multiple discovery}}
• {{annotated link|Era}}
• {{annotated link|Paradigm}}
• {{annotated link|Sociocultural system}}
• {{annotated link|World history (field)}}

{{Reflist}}

{{wiktionary|zeitgeist|spiritus mundi}}

• [http://www.historikertag2002.uni-halle.de/druck/halle_geschichte/klotz.shtml Christian Adolph Klotz]
• [http://susi.e-technik.uni-ulm.de:8080/Meyers2/seite/werk/meyers/band/9/seite/0859/meyers_b9_s0859.html#Klotz Christian Adolf Klotz] in: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4. Aufl., 1888, Vol. 9, Page 859
• {{cite web|title=Zeitgeist|url=http://www.wordsoftheworld.co.uk/videos/zeitgeist.html|work=Words of the World|publisher=Brady Haran (University of Nottingham)|author=Dirk Goettsche}}

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Category:Concepts in the philosophy of history

Category:German words and phrases