Zeitgeist: the spirit of the age/spirit of the time
"no man can surpass his own time, for the spirit of his time is also his own spirit."
The concept counters the Great Man theory popularized by Thomas Carlyle which sees history as the result of the actions of heroes and geniuses. The Great Man theory fell out of favor after WW2
In Fear and Trembling, Kierkegaard writes that: "...to be able to fall down in such a way that the same second it looks as if one were standing and walking, to transform the leap of life into a walk, absolutely to express the sublime and the pedestrian -- that only these knights of faith can do -- this is the one and only prodigy."(cite)
VS: People's history/social history
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