Abstract
This paper focuses on what Voegelin calls “unrestrained modernity” alongside an exploration of the problem of infinity in language representations discussed by Aristotle in Physics. Focusing my search on unlimited-representation leads me towards a discussion of what tradition is, how one represents traditions both in life and politics, and how modern traditions have failed to transcend beyond the occasion of their becoming, ultimately leading towards an existential crisis. For Voegelin, the failure of transcendental social representation creates the “phenomenon of a dream world” that leads to the ‘end of modernity.’ The institutional traditions most important for this paper are those of western representative democracies. Thus, the paper (1) aims at understanding how, for Voegelin, the threat of “unrestrained modernity” brings about “strong institutional traditions” of economic materialism, racism, corrupt psychology, scientism and technological ruthlessness, and (2) developing a means of helping us overcome the menace of dangerous socio-political conventions.