Postmodernism

What is Postmodernism? Widespread cultural development that rises as a reaction to enlightenment ideals Central interrelated themes: Truth Language and its relation to thought and to the world Human nature and the self The Other Power and oppression Creativity and the aesthetics

Remember… As a reaction to medieval crusades that fostered ignorance, intolerance and religious wars, Descartes (and the modernists) argued that… humans are unique because they have a rational nature. Knowledge is defined as an accurate and certain representation of nature which provides a solid foundation for human life. Certainty was needed. Questions about reality and morality are important, but not as important as finding a solid foundation for human life. Knowledge could be find through method of systematic doubt. Reason was “savior” and he defined reason as, “reaching conclusions through inquiry based on the human faculty of grasping necessary connections.” Humans are special because they have a rational essence, thus detaching them from their surroundings.

The Postmodern Reaction Humans do not have essential nature. Rather humans are unique because of linguistic ability that enables creation through redescription… …Thus, knowledge is not an accurate and certain representation of nature. Redescriptions are based on imaginative ability with words, nothing can ever be solid.

[A painting is like] a transparent window through which we look out into a section of the visible world. - Alberti, 15 th century Madonna and Child Fra Filippo Lippi 1487

Art should have no other guide than the torch of reason. - David 18 th century Oath of the Horatii (Jaques Louis David 1784)

The Death of Sardanopolous (Eugène Delacroix 1827) It is evident that nature cares very little whether man has a mind or not. The real man is savage; he is in accord with nature as she is…

Show me an angel and I’ll paint one. - Courbet mid 19 th century) The Stonecutters (Gustave Courbet 1849)

The Bathers (Paul Cezanne 1906) I do not want to represent nature; I want to recreate it. - Cezanne

200 Soup Cans (Andy Warhol 1962) There’s nothing behind it…[I am trying] to express nothing. - Warhol

Postmodernism: Basic Concepts Language is a social construct that “ speaks ” & identifies the subject Knowledge is contingent, contextual and linked to POWER Truth is pluralistic, dependent upon the frame of reference of the observer Values are derived from ordinary social practices, which differ from culture to culture and change with time. Values are determined by manipulation and domination Language As Social Construct POSTMODERNISM

Modernist View of Language Nomenclaturism (Traditional View) I see _________ I think __________ I speak _________ CONCLUSIONS: Language is essentially a list of names which stand for objects Meaning derived from standing for an object Thought precedes language

Postmodern View of Language Language as a game (agreed upon rules) Words get meaning from other words in the game, linguistic system determines meaning Words used for many purposes, not just descriptions (promises, emotions, behavior etc.) Language as a box of tools – not one being accurate or inaccurate Language precedes thought – prior to language just sensation Language and thought interdependent – brain exists independent of language, but does not have concepts Self created by language, not simply expressed by it Liberation through death of the author The Observer is King POSTMODERNISM

Above All… The postmodern challenge presents us with the question of how to define the self: Should we continue to think of ourselves as governed by an essential nature? or should we see ourselves as lacking an essential nature and as governed by a particular human language? Should we continue to accept the modernist view that we can discover truth in the world and therefore strive to base our lives on its foundation? Or should we see ourselves as linguistic dreamers who find nothing, but are able to create the world we live in?

Ludwig Wittgenstein April 1889 – April 1951 Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. Life events which lead him to questions truth: homosexuality, suicides of brothers, struggle of Jewish identity during Holocaust Fly in a fly bottle theory – humans buzzing around within the limits of man-made language Language is the inevitable vehicle of thought and there is no way to break outside of it

Richard Rorty ( ) A “ pragmatic philosopher ” : philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice. Language provides a starting point for all conceptual thought Babies private sensations later influence public thoughts defined by language Mind is not a “mirror of nature” “We should drop the topic of truth.” (in defining the world and the self) Utopia: Freedom to create, thus open to change and diversity since not dependent on truth Good vocabulary: Ways of speaking that help us get what we want. If we improve our descriptions, our thoughts will improve (all the big ISMS) Relativism & Pluralism POSTMODERNISM

From Modern to Postmodern Western Literature …the purpose of playing, whose end, both at first and now, was and is to hold as ‘twere the mirror up to nature…(Hamlet ) A novel is a mirror carried along a road [Saint-Real, as quoted by Stendhal (The Red and the Black 78)] “You have no use for truth?” said Beatrice. “You know what truth is?” said Karabekian. “Its some crazy thing my neighbor believes. If I want to make friends with him, I ask him what he believes. He tells me, and I say, ‘Yea, yea – aint it the truth.” (Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions, 209). A novel examines not reality, but existence. And å is not what has occurred; existence is the realm of human possibilities, everything that a man can become, everything he’s capable of. Novelists draw up the map of existence by discovering this of that human possibility. But again to exist means: “being in the world.” Thus, both the character and his world must be understood as possibilities.

Post-Modern Literature Extreme freedom of form and expression Repudiation of boundaries of narration & genre Intrusive, self-reflexive author Parodies of meta-narratives Deliberate violation of standards of sense and decency (which are viewed as methods of social control) Integration of everyday experience, pop culture Play and Parody POSTMODERNISM

Post-Modern Literature Parody, play, black humor, pastiche Nonlinear, fragmented narratives Ambiguities and uncertainties Conspiracy and paranoia Ironic detachment Linguistic innovations Postcolonial, global-English literature Fragmented Identities POSTMODERNISM

Post-Modernism “ The narrative is unraveled, the author is dead, the Enlightenment project is toast, and history is history. ” “ An epochal shift in the basic condition in being. ” --Geoffrey Nunberg An Epochal Shift in Thinking POSTMODERNISM