January 25, 2001
The period
in which we now live is often called “postmodernism”. According to Nancy Murphy,
author of Anglo-American Postmodernity, postmodernism in the
Anglo-American world started some time around 1950. Others would perhaps say
that postmodernism is something
which evolved after 1968. But anyway, in 1979 Jean-Francois Lyotard published a
book called The Postmodern Condition. At this point someone had defined
postmodernism, and during the last 20 years the ideas of postmodernism have been
much debated in the Western world.
The
Meaning of The Term
“Postmodernism” is not easy to define. The term
is used in philosophy, literature, social sciences and architecture. Different
postmodern thinkers may have different opinions, and people from different
fields may have somewhat different definitions of “postmodernism”. And if there
is one thing postmodernists don’t tend to like, it is fixed criteria or
dogmatism, so perhaps we should be careful trying to give a final definition of
the term.
But in this
article I will focus on postmodernism as used in philosophy. However, some of
the points I emphasize may also be
recognized in popular culture.
“Postmodernism” is of course composed by two
parts “post” and “modern”. “Post” is latin for “after”, and “modernism” refers
to the modern period. In philosophy the modern period was started by Descartes
(1596-1650) who believed in exact science and objective knowledge. He believed
that there are certain self-evident principles that may provide a foundation for
other types of knowledge. Descartes
was rationalist –he believed in reason, and he thought that human reason can
grasp truths independent of time and place. However, let us not focus too much
on Descartes and the etymology of the term “postmodern.” As I now turn to some
characteristics of the postmodern, you will be able to see how it differs from
Descartes, and not merely go into postmodernism as a historical phenomenon, but
understand it qua philosophy.
Relativism
Postmodernism is
associated with relativism. Relativism is the idea that “anything goes.”
It is the position
where one has left the belief in absolute truth, and instead embraced the idea
that knowledge is dependent on one’s perspective. While in the Middle Ages,
people believed
in God, Nietzsche
(1844-1900) argued that “God is dead.” For some reason, many people just
accepted this, and thought that we are left with a contingent immanent reality.
There are no eternal fix-points in life –that’s what many postmodern followers
of Nietzsche believe.
No Grand
Narrative
A narrative is a
history – a story. In his book from 1979, Lyotard emphasized
that in
postmodernism one has left the idea of a grand narrative. In the Enlightenment,
one had certain ideas guiding the culture, a unified project, where knowledge
and information were important. In the Middle Ages, belief in God and the Bible
gave society a grand narrative. All aspects of life could be interpreted from a
religious point of view, and a large number of the population believed in God
and Christianity.
But in
postmodernism, society is more fragmented. Belief in the One Truth, or universal
criteria, has been substituted by a number of “small stories,” and a diversity of
criteria.
I think for
instance Europe or USA today is much more pluralist, than Europe in the Middle
Ages.
Social
Constructivism
Another idea within
postmodernism, is social constructivism. I guess this idea can appear in
different versions. At its most extreme. It might be something like: ‘Reality is
created by social reality.’ But the main idea is that there is no objective
knowledge or absolute representation of reality. Many of our concepts and
categories are based on the social reality, and not because we veridically can
represent physical reality. A Norwegian theologian has been led to say that the
distinction between the male and female sex is arbitrary, it is a social
construction. I will soon criticize this position. Some may even believe that scientific
results are constructs –the philosopher Daniel Dennett told about a person
believing the DNA-biology to be “just another story!”
Other
Traits
So now we have emphasized three important traits in
postmodernism: relativism, no universal narrative and social constructivism.
There are other keywords relating to this, like the emphasis on contingency, and
that language shapes our views of reality. Don Cupitt, for instance, has said
that language creates reality. “Reality does not determine language, language
determines reality.” This position may be called linguistic idealism, a radical and quite
bizarre idea that language constructs reality.
What is Wrong With Postmodernism?
Let me
first say that I believe postmodernism represents an important virtue. This
virtue is pluralism. Remember that I
said that in postmodernism one has left the idea of a grand narrative. There are
many histories and ways of looking at reality in contemporary society,
But
although pluralism is a good thing, certain aspects of pluralism should, in my
opinion, be rejected. Let us look at some counter-arguments.
Relativism. Is relativism a sustainable thesis? I doubt it.
Sometimes we may come to recognize the relativity of our own views, and we don’t
know if we are right in holding our opinions. But this does not mean that
relativism should be accepted. Something is true and something is false. Let us
take medical science as an example: chemotherapy may cure cancer, while, say,
drinking coca cola may not normally cure cancer. This is true! There was once a
Christian discussing with another student. The young student told the Christian
that there are no moral principles. They were sitting in a student room, and the
Christian took kettle of boiling water and held it over the student’s head. He
just stood there with the boiling water over his head, and then took it away.
What an ingenious demonstration of the fact that there are moral values that all must accept.
It would be wrong to poor that boiling water over the other person. There are
certain absolutes, and we must continue to believe in this.
But the
main argument against relativism is that it leads to logical contradictions. If
you try to defend relativism, you try to say something like “ There is no
absolute truth”. Well, what about that
proposition? Do you deny that
this is absolutely true? According to postmoderism itself, you must, but why
then accept it?
No Grand Narrative. As
a description of contemporary culture, the point that there is no grand
narrative, is a good one. There is no unified theory guiding society now. Even
though science and technology is immensely advanced, not everyone believes in
science as the key to understanding all aspects of life. Some for instance
prefer religion, while others don\t care because they are focused on poetry or
music. To live in a pluralist society, can teach you many things. Although I
don’t think all cultures and groups possess the same amount of truth,
Its fun to
meet people with different opinions, backgrounds, people from the Middle East,
Europe, USA and Latin-America. For instance, I have a problem with Norwegian
girls.
Norwegian
girls are supposed to be very pretty, but there is something about different
cultures and multi-culturalism that attracts me. Learning about different
cultures is interesting, and if the contemporary information flow can lead to
this, it is good.
However,
there is an important point to notice here. If there is such a thing as truth,
one should wish that as many people as possible will acknowledge and embrace it.
Cultures where science is not accepted, would perhaps benefit from changing
their paradigm. Thus I would like to say that I think it is important to note
that it is possible to think that some beliefs are better than others and should
be accepted more universally than others. This must not lead to chauvinism, but it is still something which is
important to consider.
Social
Constructivism. Social constructivism sometimes leads to intellectual
confusion. When someone argues that the distinction between male and female is
arbitrary, I would simply point to the fact that female vs male are categories
found in nature. Reality is ordered, and rational use of concepts and categories
often has to do with being able to represent this reality.
If think that if social
constructivism entered into medical science and NASA's research, it would
confuse the researchers. So the belief that we don’t have a veridical access to
external reality may be dangerous. But still, there might an insight here to
notice.
Certain concepts are social
constructs, and certain moral codes are practiced because of conformity.
Sometimes we have go beyond our own “deep culture” and challenge mainstream opinions. In a
modified and sound version, social constructivism, can give us insights, but in
a radical version it should be criticized and rejected as another irrational social
construction!
Conclusion
There are both pros and cons when it
comes to postmodernism. But there are many cons, and it is important not merely
to follow trends among academics or in popular culture. As the Norwegian
philosopher Dagfinn Føllesdal has emphasized, analytical reasoning is vital for
democracy. Analytical skills are important to civilization, although many
other human qualities definitely are needed. Some postmodernists do not seem to
take logical reasoning seriously, and instead of listening to reason and
arguments, they may tend to focus on
As previously mentioned,
the philosopher Daniel Dennett gave us a good illustration of how weird
postmodern conclusions can become. A friend of Dennett attended a conference on
literature. The conversation turned to DNA, and one of the participants said:
“Oh, do you still believe in that
story?” To believe that DNA is a social construction or just another story,
can be dangerous. If postmodernists undermine respect for helpful science and
moral principles
The ideas that there are no
absolute truth and the belief in social construction, may end in nihilism and a
disrespect for that which can help human civilization make progress.
Postmodernists have given
us many ideas which are important, we should try to understand postmodern
thinking and learn what we can from the postmodern approach.
Still we must always be
critical. I realize that my treatment of postmodernism is somewhat rudimentary
and not complete. What I do hope, however, is that my essay gives you something
to think about. My goal as an essayist is to make the reader think and reflect
on the topics. Reflection is indeed needed in the postmodern pluralist
world.
Copyright © 2001