This essay will focus on how people lived and the beliefs they had that God was the creator and controller of the universe during the Middle Ages or era pre-modern by first describing what pre-modernity then follows the dynamics of this era. This essay will then discuss Descartes, the father of modernity, along with other contributing philosophers, and how he changed the beliefs of the Middle Ages before the way people now view themselves as subjects capable of making meaning to objects and are free to choose. whatever meaning they want to give to themselves and their environment. Before Descartes, men considered themselves creatures of God. This belief is born from the burden of choice we all go through when trying to define ourselves. When considering the Middle Ages or pre-modernity, which is the long historical period preceding the Enlightenment, it is seen as a period characterized by religious faith, social hierarchy and political systems based on aristocracy and dominance of agricultural production in the economy. Kelly and Dreyfus (2011), in the Christian West, people's identities were determined by God, whether there was God or not. Kelly and Dreyfus (2011). People could not help but feel determined or created by God Kelly and Dreyfus (2011). 2001), so much so that they never thought that identity could be determined in any other way Kelly and Dreyfus (2011). God controlled the structure of society to the extent that kings and queens ruled by divine right, meaning that God chose them specifically to be the rulers of society Kelly and Dreyfus (2011). This structure incorporated everyone to the extent that all people had a place in society...... middle of paper ......the, which brought modernity; people began to have doubts about God and to see themselves as subjects and givers of meaning to themselves and the objects around them, thus ending this essay.1. Winfield, R.D. (2007). Modernity, religion and the war against terrorism. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing Company.2. Dubey, A.P. (2008). Modernity and the problem of cultural identity. New Delhi: Northern Book Center Publications3. Ferguson, H. (2000). Modernity and subjectivity. New York: University Press4. Schools, A.P. (1989). Descartes and the Enlightenment. United Kingdom: University Press.5. Gilspie, M.A. (2008). The theological origins of modernity. Chicago: University Press.6. Broughton, J. and Carriero, J. (2011). Blackwell Companion to Philosophy. United Kingdom: University Press.7. Dreyfus, H. and Kelly, SD (2011). Everything shines. new York