3/27/2012

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What is Postmodernism?

“Perhaps the clearest and most certain thing

that can be said about postmodernism is that

it is a very unclear and very much contested

concept…”

–Richard Shusterman in Aesthetics and Postmodernism

What is Postmodernism?

Postmodernists themselves, do not consider it

to be a comprehensive theory or systematic

philosophical approach. They prefer

considering it…

• a (social/intellectual) condition

• a movement

• a set of attitudes

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What is Postmodernism?

• Postmodernism: The belief that there is no

universally applicable, objective foundation

for knowledge.

• Jean-Francois Lyotard defines postmodernism

as “incredulity towards meta-narratives”

Lyotard on Meta-narratives

• meta-narratives: grand all encompassing myths

about humanity, the world and the cosmos.

• There is no neutral vantage point from which

humans can see the world free from bias. Instead

we see the world through the lenses of stories

that we tell about ourselves and the world

• No “meta-narrative” can be proven to be

absolutely true for all times, people, or cultures.

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Lyotard on Meta-narratives

• Lyotard (1924-1998) saw

grand meta-narratives

(such as Christianity,

Enlightenment

Rationalism, Marxism) as

“totalizing”, authoritarian

and repressive. They are

used to silence voices

which do not fit or

challenge the dominate

ideologies.

Postmodernism as Anti-modernism

• Modernism: a set of ideas and practices which trace their intellectual heritage back to the European “age of enlightenment”

• Enlightenment Philosophical concepts– Objective & universal truths are discoverable through

reason and science.

– Language can represent the world as it really is.

– All human beings share a common nature

– The application of reason, science and technology to the ordering of society will bring about greater freedom and social justice.

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Postmodernism as Anti-modernism

• Enlightenment political concepts:

– Uniqueness and autonomy of the individual

– Natural rights/Human rights

– Democracy / Limited Government

– Capitalism / Economic liberalism

– Egalitarianism / Equality of interests

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The Frankfurt School

• In 1923 a group of

intellectuals formed the

Institute for Social

Research in Frankfurt,

Germany. During the

rise of the Nazis several

Jewish members of the

school fled Germany

and re-established the

school in New York City

The Frankfurt School & “Critical Theory”

• The Frankfurt School believed modern western

society had failed to live up to the promises of

the enlightenment and was rapidly deteriorating

into multiple totalitarian governments which

suppressed human freedom.

• “Critical Theory” (a precursor to postmodernism)

attempted to stem the tide of totalitarian

thinking through criticism of social institutions

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The Frankfurt School & “Critical Theory”

While some members of the school considered

themselves enlightenment humanists or neo-

marxists, others advanced more “postmodern”

ideas..

• Jurgen Habermas (1929-)

– Science is cannot be impartial/ideologically neutral.

– Science uncritically promotes values which should be

challenged (ex. technological domination of nature)

– The notion of objective reason is oppressive

The Frankfurt School & “Critical Theory”

• Theodor Adorno (1903-1969)

– Criticized “the culture industry”

– Modern art and popular media culture deadens

political awareness and promotes passivity.

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Hyper-real and Simulacra

Hyper-real Jean Baudrillard

Features of Postmodernism

1. Language as “the play of signs”

– Language does not point us to “the real world” but to an

internal game of signs and symbols.

– Language is never neutral. Written and spoken language

both depend on interpretation which is influenced by

society, history and politics.

2. Anti-realism

– We cannot know the world “as it is”

– Language constructs the world that we mistakenly take as

brute reality.

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Features of Postmodernism

3. Anti-rationalism

– Human rationality is also historically and culturally

constructed—reject notion of objectivity

– As such we cannot appeal to reason as a neutral arbiter

of disputes regarding human practices or judgments.

4. Rejection of “human nature”

– Postmodernists are skeptical of appeals to fixed or innate

human capacities which all human beings share.

– Culture constructs oppressive notions of gender and race

which are falsely taken to be universal & immutable.

Features of Postmodernism

5. Rejection of “the uniqueness of the

individual”

– The “self” is constructed in relation to the “other”

– Concepts of uniqueness, originality and genius either

deny or trivialize this fact.

6. Rejection of stable, inherit meaning in “texts”

– There are no “true” interpretations of artworks

– High Art/Low art distinctions

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Postmodern Pluralism in Art

• In the wake of postmodern ideas the artworldhas seen unprecedented diversity…

– Minority/political perspectives in art

– Collaborative and anonymous art (rejection of

genius/individualism)

– Appropriation / Readymades (rejection of originality)

– Hybridization (rejecting rigid classification of artforms)

– Kitsch (rejection of High/low & popular/fine art)

Does Postmodernism have a method?

There is no single

method of analysis

shared by all

postmodernists.

• Many, however, employ

a loose method of

analysis called

deconstruction,

developed by Jacques

Derrida (1930-2004)

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Deconstruction

• Derrida did not conceive of deconstruction as a fixed

method, nevertheless deconstruction usually follows

the following pattern…

1. Recognize “binary oppositions” in the texts

key ideas

– Good/evil, us/them, male/female, light/dark, east/west

2. Identify “violent hierarchy” in these ideas

(i.e. one term is treated as superior to the

other)

Deconstruction

3. Show the hierarchy is reversible—reconstruct

the narrative as it would be seen from the

perspective of the oppressed term.

or…

show that the two terms are not fixed and

stable but are ambiguous and subvert

eachother in the text’s own internal logic.

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Michel Foucault

• Michel Foucault (1926-

1984) contributed two

important concepts to

deconstruction-

Archaeology: historical

assumptions underlying

ideologies.

Genealogy: how an idea

transforms over time.

Foucault and “the death of the author”

In his essay “What is an

Author?” Foucault

deconstructs the idea of

authorship. He

concludes that the

“author function” is one

way in which society

limits the diversity of

interpretations which

are possible in any text.

“The author is therefore

the ideological figure by

which one marks the

manner in which we

fear the proliferation of

meaning”

-Michel Foucault

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Importance of the Author to Interpretation

• In a conversational

context disputes over

meaning are settled by

the speakers intentions.

• Similarly, many

philosophers and critics

appeal to the authors

intentions to identify

the correct

interpretation of a text

In a conversation, if

somebody said something

that could be interpreted

different ways you you

would probably ask them

to clarify what they meant

Intentionalism and Interpretation

• Actual Intentionalism: A works meaning, both explicit and implicit is what it’s author intended

• Hypothetical Intentionalism: the works meaning is determined by the intentions the audience is best justified in attributing to the author.

– Can be used in conjunction with A.I.

– Gets around “intentionalist fallacy” (lecture 4)

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Foucault and “the death of the author”

In his essay “What is an

Author?” Foucault

deconstructs the idea of

authorship. He

concludes that the

“author function” is one

way in which society

limits the diversity of

interpretations which

are possible in any text.

“The author is therefore

the ideological figure by

which one marks the

manner in which we

fear the proliferation of

meaning”

-Michel Foucault

Saint Jerome proposes four criteria:

(1) If among several books attributed to an author one is inferior to the others, it must be withdrawn from the list of the author's works (the author is therefore defined as a constant level of value)

(2) the same should be done if certain texts contradict the doctrine expounded in the author's other works (the author is thus defined as a field of conceptual or theoretical coherence)

(3) one must also exclude works that are written in a different style containing words and expressions not ordinarily found in the writer's production (the author is here conceived as a stylistic unity)

(4) finally, passages quoting statements that were made, or mentioning events that occurred after the author's death must be regarded as interpolated texts (the author is here seen as a historical figure at the crossroads of a certain number of events)

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A Compromise? Meaning vs. Significance

• Stephen Davis argues interpretations do not

change a works “meaning” but they can

change its significance.

– Meaning: fixed by semantic, symbolic and other

properties of a text. The object of interpretation is

unaffected by being interpreted.

– Significance: how we think about a work and

relate to its values and ideas that lie beyond it.