AVANT-GARDES AND THE CONTINUOUS NECESSITY OF HUMANIST VALUES

Abstract

Based on elements of the Frankfurt School, the author proposes a critically guided common sense, which could be used to evaluate the modernization efforts, which nowadays have been transformed in universal and compulsory issues. The relativism of values is traced back to ancient and poorly known antecedents, like manierism, activism and surrealism. The analysis of these currents shows us the weakness of the avant-gardesand their repeating character. As a conclusion the author postulates the necessity of a renaissance of humanist tendencies, an idea based on the critical function of nostalgia.