Features of Postmodernism - Essay Example

Postmodernism - World View Postmodernism can be described as a set of critical, strategic and rhetorical practices employing concepts such as difference, repetition, the trace, the simulacrum, and hyper reality to destabilize other concepts such as presence, identity, historical progress, epistemic certainty, and the univocity of meaning. The term "postmodern" came into the philosophical lexicon with the publication of Jean-Franois Lyotard's La Condition Postmoderne in 1979.[1] To characterize postmodernism, we must look briefly at what existed before it: modernism. "Modern" was once used liberally as an adjective to describe many things -from the latest kitchen gadget to a style of art. But "modern" also refers to a specific period of time (roughly from1870 to the mid-1960s) and to the range of cultural ideas, beliefs, and artifacts that people generated during that period. The modernist believed that science had shaken the foundations of traditional authorities and truths. Modern man could find a new, rational foundation for universal truth; science, particularly, would reveal new truth, which, when applied to modern society and institutions, would literally remake the world. Modernism "... held the extravagant expectation that the arts and sciences would further not only the control of the forces of nature but also the understanding of self and world, moral progress, justice in social institutions, and even human happiness." [2]. Looking to man and not God, the optimism of modernism has proven itself ill-founded. The response has been postmodernism. Postmodernism can be illustrated as a worldview by looking at five presuppositions inherent in the postmodern worldview: (1) The quest for truth is a lost cause. It is a search for a "holy grail" that doesn't exist and never did. Postmodernists argue that objective, universal, knowable truth is mythical; all we have ever found in our agonized search for Truth are "truths" that were compelling only in their own time and culture, but true Truth has never been ours. Furthermore, if we make the mistake of claiming to know the Truth, we are deluded at best and dangerous at worst. (2) A person's sense of identity is a composite constructed by the forces of the surrounding culture. Individual consciousness--a vague, "decentered" collection of unconscious and conscious beliefs, knowledge, and intuitions about oneself and the world--is malleable and arrived at through interaction with the surrounding culture. Postmodernism then, in stark contrast to modernism, is about the dissolving of the self. From the postmodernist perspective, we should not think of ourselves as unique, unified, self-conscious, autonomous persons. (3) The languages of our culture (the verbal and visual signs we use to represent the world to ourselves) literally "construct" what we think of as "real" in our everyday existence. In this sense, reality is a "text" or "composite" of texts, and these texts (rather than the God-created reality) are the only reality we can know. Our sense of self--who we are, how we think of ourselves, as well as how we see and interpret the world and give ourselves meaning in it--is subjectively constructed through language. (4) "Reality" is created by those who have power. One of postmodernism's preeminent theorists, Michel Foucault, combines the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's ideas about how those in power shape the world with a theory of how language is the primary tool for making culture. Foucault argues that whoever dominates or controls the "official" use of language in a society holds the key to social and political power. (Think, for example, of how official political "spin" control of specific words and phrases can alter the public perception of political decisions, policies, and events.) Put simply, Nietzsche said all reality is someone's willful, powerful construction; Foucault says language is the primary tool in that construction. (5) We should neutralize the political power inherent in language by "deconstructing" it. Another leading postmodernist, Jacques Derrida, theorizes that the language we use when we make statements always creates a set of opposite beliefs, a "binary," one of which is "privileged" and the other of which is "marginalized," and the privileged belief is always favored. For example, if one says "Honey is better for you than white sugar," this statement of opinion has "privileged" honey over white sugar. In the arena of morals one might say "Sex should only happen in marriage," in which case the experience of sex in marriage is "privileged" and sex out of wedlock is "marginalized." Derrida argues that all language is made up of these binaries, and they are always socially and politically loaded. "Deconstruction" is the practice of identifying these power-loaded binaries and restructuring them so that the marginalized or "unprivileged" end of the binary can be consciously focused upon and favored. Reflections of Postmodernism from a Christian Perspective Postmodernism is an easy target, especially if one treats it as just another form of relativism-the old "what's true for you may not be true for me" dodge. But postmodernism is many other things, and many young believers must swim in its currents as they study, work, watch current movies, and relate to friends-especially in university contexts. A growing number of these Christians are embracing some postmodern ideas-not uncritically, but believing they offer an authentic context for Christian living and fresh avenues of evangelism. This openness to postmodern ideas makes many conservative Christians nervous. Indeed, the postmodern set often criticizes aspects of evangelical culture, and the postmodernism vocabulary sounds impenetrable to evangelicals' ears. Postmodernism entered the stage of linguistics with a furor. For the past twenty years the study of literature has been greatly influenced by the very questioning of any effort to communicate in a coherent manner. Postmodernism differs considerably in English speaking cultures, German cultures and French cultures, with people falling within a spectrum that does not easily bring clarity. All agree, however, that a major shift has taken place in what and how people know. Recently this phenomenon has begun to influence the interpretation of biblical texts. The very use of the term, moreover, has caused many exegetes--Jewish, Catholic and Protestant--to recoil in fear. Most contemporary biblical scholars are aware of the relativity of many of the texts based on sitz im leben and form criticism but now some question the very possibility of language communication itself. The multiplicity of biblical languages--Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek--in books written over at least several hundred years, certainly causes further problems in communicating. Many fear that in postmodernist thought little remains for both Judaism and Christianity as religions. Yet, no one can deny the influence of postmodernist thought on American culture and on religious traditions. No good can result from failing to confront this phenomenon which has permeated all contemporary cultures. Hermeneutics has already contributed to the entrance of postmodernism into biblical studies. The art of bridging the gap between the classic and contemporary reality allows for differences in understanding the classic. Unfortunately in the history of both Judaism and Christianity individuals and even institutions have taken certain verses from the Bible and used them to demand a specific behavior. Little attention was given to the original language, context, or original purpose of the biblical texts. This has caused not only confusion but often great personal damage. Postmodernism suggests that religious leaders re-examine this tendency. Biblical scholars have an obligation to respond to the questions of postmodernism, and in the meantime ordinary believers draw their own conclusions and live accordingly. Traditions lay the foundation for religions. Here lies the crucial responsibility. Note the word crucial for Christians. It all goes back to the cross of Jesus, from which came the giving of the Spirit and the resurrection. For Jews the cross is more the crossing from the Reed Sea to Sinai. Both groups believe that God has spoken historically, creating distinctive peoples: Jews and Christians. This tradition passed from one generation to another continues the line and binds people together into a common faith. But what is passed on How is it passed on How can the traditions affect how people live Three distinct groups hand on the tradition: scholars, church leaders and ordinary believers . Often the scholars and church leaders see themselves in opposing camps. The scholars claim to know the interpretation of the texts and how they can and cannot be used for behavior. The church leaders often hold the scholars suspect for their interpretation, and the ordinary believers often feel confused and ill-served by both groups. The debate on postmodernism among scholars has caused some concern. If all history is subjective and culturally determined and affected by self-interest groups both in the written composition of history and in interpretation of that same recorded history, what is left Of course, often religious leaders will accuse the scholars, especially those trying to deal with postmodernism, of trying to undermine religion, while the postmodernist scholars claim to actually preserve the true religious traditions. No wonder confusion reigns. References: 1 (The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge, 1984) 2 (Jurgen Habermas, Modernity: An Unfinished Project, pp 162-63.) 3 Baudrillard, Jean, 1993, Symbolic Exchange and Death, Ian Hamilton Grant (trans.), London: Sage Publications. 4 1994, Simulacra and Simulation, Sheila Faria Glaser (trans.), Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 5 Cahoone, Lawrence (ed.), 2003, From Modernism to Postmodernism: An Anthology, 2nd Edition, London: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. 6 Deleuze, Gilles, and Guattari, Felix, 1983a, Anti-Oedipus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia, Robert Hurley, Mark Seem, Helen R. Lane (trans.), Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 7 1983b, Nietzsche and Philosophy, Hugh Tomlinson (trans.), New York: Columbia University Press. 8 1994, Difference and Repetition, Paul Patton (trans.), New York: Columbia University Press. 9 Derrida, Jacques, 1973, Speech and Phenomena and other Essays on Husserl's Theory of Signs, David B. Allison (trans.), Evanston: Northwestern University Press. 10 1974, Of Grammatology, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (trans.), Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. 11 1978, Writing and Difference, Alan Bass (trans.), Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 12 1979, Spurs: Nietzsche's Styles, Barbara Harlow (trans.), Chihcago: University of Chicago Press. Read More