Postmodernism. What does it really mean? Why are pseudo-intellectuals

File: Hey kid.jpg (563KB, 900x900px) Image search: [Google]

563KB, 900x900px

>>2779645
Post-modernism is the rejection of grand narratives and absolute truths in all of their forms, including the liberal ideal of human rights. However, because absolute truth is rejected, relativity is embraced and thus the table is set for grand narratives. Think of it as the philosophical equivalent to post-irony. Psuedo-intellectuals (ie modernists) reject it because it's the dark resurgence of fascistic anti-rationalism, the next step in philosophical evolution that supersedes liberal empiricism.

>>2779645
Before I begin I just want to state that I don't necessarily agree with everything in Postmodernism. It does get a bad rap though so I'll try to unpack it's ideas.
Firstly, we must ask ourselves what is Modernity? What does it mean to be modern?
Modernity can be considered and epoch of time, for e.g. “The Modern Era”, “Modern History” etc. (although what that epoch is no one readily agrees on because it is of course constantly changing). Where did these ideas come from? What gives them validity as truth? Can different kinds of modernities exist?

>>2779735
(Cont.) Modernity has strong ties with ideas of Positivism and the Western Tradition (i.e. faith in progress through science – belief in what can be proven. We can understand true knowledge through observation). But this is still an ideology at it's core. I may agree that it's a really good ideology but it's a set of ideas, a meta-narrative.
Postmodernism takes the position that no ideology is truth. All worldviews appeal to the subjectivities of the individual. The goal of which is to appear as the ONLY narrative.
Postmodernism, simply put, takes the position that there are no objective criteria to prove whether a theory is true therefore any theory claiming to have the truth about how to create a better society e.g. Both Western ideas of Modernity AND Marxism is a meta-narrative. They're all someone’s version of reality.
We use Postmodernism as a critical lens to study human geographies, ethnography, etc.
Every human's experience is subjective so when we study society we have to dispose of the meta-narratives.

>>2779735
The truth is self-evident like mathematical axioms.

>>2779742
Postmodernism is used to study societies and human behaviour. Not the Natural Sciences. Of course there is observable truth, Postmodernism doesn't dispute that. All it's about is deconstructing ideologies.

File: 12747777_515419305286908_1610285801_n.jpg (19KB, 480x480px) Image search: [Google]

19KB, 480x480px

>>2779735
>>2779738
>Tfw you're so wrapped up in meta-narratives that you don't even admit that postmodernism is a tool to advance meta-narratives

>>2779764
Basically, you are saying that we need post-post-modernism?

>>2779764
It can just as easily be used against Left-wing ideologies. But you are correct, meta-narratives cannot be escaped from. But it's better to recognise our biases, then ignore them. Socrates was one who provoked people to question what they considered to be "common sense". It's merely an exercise is self-reflection

>>2779780
I'm saying that post-modernism fully recognized is the realization that human study of human society cannot dispose of meta-narratives.

>>2779645

Imagine your roof is leaking, so then your friend says you should just tear down your house. So you do it and then say "ok, now what?" and then your friend says "oh, I dont know."

Thats what post-modernism is.

>>2779645
>why are pseudo-intellectuals so opposed to it

Bait thread, sage goes in all fields.

>>2779791
Of course it can be used against left wing ideologies, and I would argue that it will be even more effective against the left than it ever was against the right once the right fully realizes what the left has created. Narratives came to exist for a reason, they're powerful forces of will. Post-modernism will ultimately become a successful tool of a greater narrative by those who fully understand its implications.

>>2779814
t. local pseudo-intellectual