Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Post-modernism is the bastard child of Marxism and nihilism, born of an existential frustration some academics have with their marginal status in society.
As science unveils more about the workings of the human mind, and we learn more about the nature of language and understanding, the already flimsy underpinnings of post-modernism are being knocked right out. Which, of course, only makes it even more attractive to a certain personality type.
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I am not surprised that a critique of post-modernism would make so many normative assertions about nature and truth. Post-modernism certainly embraces tenants of Marxism and nihilism, however, it is much more than simply that. Rather than being placed in a box of established schools of thought, it is more useful to describe it as a reaction against the belief that morality, truth, and human nature can fit into simple binaries.
"As science unveils more about the workings of the human mind" this is the most problematic thing you have said. Science and supporters of science are often blind to its limitations (namely its inability to function ethically ie. eugenics, the atom bomb and chemical warfare) . By defining the human mind, the human is normalized and limited in what they can be. This is problematic because the human mind is
undefinable. I would suggest that each human experience is untranslatable. An outcome of this is claiming that the mind should work a certain way, this can be dangerous. Alberta, for example, has a long history of forced sterilization as a result of normalizing brain function. In short, science can not unveil the workings of the mind.
The nature of language is that it is constantly developing new meanings. Moreover, different dialects exist between different levels of society within one language group. Indeed, language, and linguistics are probably the most influential school of though in terms of post-modernism. different languages can produce different realities simultaneously. the instability of language and its meanings is a testament that there can be overlapping layers of understanding which exist in opposition but not in conflict.