A Slight(ing) Discourse of Postmodernism--you may want to skip this one, Mom
Much of what follows is actually identical to a comment I made on Blake Blackwell's blog a few minutes ago. I didn't intend it for dual purposes originally--but hey, sometimes opportunity knocks. Anyway, my comment is on the philosophical/personal/bowel movement known as "postmodernism." Blake and I are staunch non-Postmodernists who have a long-standing debate about it going with our good friend Gabrial Peterson. I don't know if we actually disagree on philosophy half as much as we disagree on terminology, but alas, words shape meaning.
Let me comment on the "good side" of postmodernism: It completely sabotages the defunct but lingering philosophy of modernism--the worldview that human beings can perceive and manipulate and come to know reality so well, so flawlessly, that ultimate truth bows down cowering before our mighty hands (and the microscopes, scalpels, and flasks they carry). That's what I like about "postmodernism," and I think that's what Gabe likes about it too--it does a good job, via its arguments, its rhetoric, of blasting modernism out of the water.
What I don't like about "postmodernism," primarily, is its frequent, insane use as a tool for completely obliterating reason and rationality (e.g. everything I have written thusfar can be dismissed as utterly rational, utterly modern). The end result of taking this completely "postmodern" line, which many people are willing to do in certain arenas, is simple epistemological nihilism--no one can know anything about anything. But that skewer is used with terrible bias: Postmodern writers are perfectly content to use the methods, yea, even the spirit of modernism--but only as long as they are using it for some perceived good. Thus some writers delight in debunking modernism via its own epistemology, in using logic to prove that logic can't prove anything. Having laid out of the groundwork, having proven, having girded, having secured themselves philosophically, they then proceed to debunk (often rather smugly) anything that employs or even smacks a hint of modernism--not caring to notice all the while that their own philosophical undergirding rests on that same root. To quote Blake, everything is ambiguous--except the Fact of ambiguity itself. This breed of postmodernism is completely self-contradictory--boot it.
To me the slightly less annoying usage of "postmodernism" occurs when people use it as a sort of buzz word (a tired and trite one at that) to refer to anything that has a bizarre, uncommon, or even merely awkward approach to thinking--or even to pure noise itself. A friend of mine recently told me of a band (which is or at least was apparently growing in popularity) whose whole show, whose whole sound, is based entirely on the concept of making noise. A hard-core groupie actually got up the courage to ask to join the band. The main noise-maker's reply was something to the effect of, "Do you want in because you think it's cool, or are you serious about the noise?" Are you serious about the noise? Yeah, I think a lot of "postmodern" thinkers are, and that's exactly the point: The world doesn't need more noise--it's needs grace and light. It needs clarity.
Gabe Peterson, eat your heart out. If you dismiss he offhandedly as a "modernist," I will seriously consider flying to America just to pimp slap you. (You know I love you like a brother.)
Let me comment on the "good side" of postmodernism: It completely sabotages the defunct but lingering philosophy of modernism--the worldview that human beings can perceive and manipulate and come to know reality so well, so flawlessly, that ultimate truth bows down cowering before our mighty hands (and the microscopes, scalpels, and flasks they carry). That's what I like about "postmodernism," and I think that's what Gabe likes about it too--it does a good job, via its arguments, its rhetoric, of blasting modernism out of the water.
What I don't like about "postmodernism," primarily, is its frequent, insane use as a tool for completely obliterating reason and rationality (e.g. everything I have written thusfar can be dismissed as utterly rational, utterly modern). The end result of taking this completely "postmodern" line, which many people are willing to do in certain arenas, is simple epistemological nihilism--no one can know anything about anything. But that skewer is used with terrible bias: Postmodern writers are perfectly content to use the methods, yea, even the spirit of modernism--but only as long as they are using it for some perceived good. Thus some writers delight in debunking modernism via its own epistemology, in using logic to prove that logic can't prove anything. Having laid out of the groundwork, having proven, having girded, having secured themselves philosophically, they then proceed to debunk (often rather smugly) anything that employs or even smacks a hint of modernism--not caring to notice all the while that their own philosophical undergirding rests on that same root. To quote Blake, everything is ambiguous--except the Fact of ambiguity itself. This breed of postmodernism is completely self-contradictory--boot it.
To me the slightly less annoying usage of "postmodernism" occurs when people use it as a sort of buzz word (a tired and trite one at that) to refer to anything that has a bizarre, uncommon, or even merely awkward approach to thinking--or even to pure noise itself. A friend of mine recently told me of a band (which is or at least was apparently growing in popularity) whose whole show, whose whole sound, is based entirely on the concept of making noise. A hard-core groupie actually got up the courage to ask to join the band. The main noise-maker's reply was something to the effect of, "Do you want in because you think it's cool, or are you serious about the noise?" Are you serious about the noise? Yeah, I think a lot of "postmodern" thinkers are, and that's exactly the point: The world doesn't need more noise--it's needs grace and light. It needs clarity.
Gabe Peterson, eat your heart out. If you dismiss he offhandedly as a "modernist," I will seriously consider flying to America just to pimp slap you. (You know I love you like a brother.)
posted by Peter Rice at 10:51 AM
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