culture ad postmodernsism discussed

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CD THAT IT BE USED ONLY BY THE PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS THAT HAVE PURCHASED THE CD ROM FROM DIALOGUE
EDUCATION. (THIS DOES NOT PROHIBIT ITS USE ON A SCHOOL’S INTRANET)
Dialogue Education
Update 3
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2. Contents
 Page 3 -Video Introduction to Postmodernism
 Pages 4 to 9 - Definition of Postmodernism
 Pages 10 to 15 - Notable Philosophical and literary contributors
 Pages 16 to 22 - Criticisms of Postmodernism
 Page 17-18 - As meaningless or disingenuous
 Page 20 - As Political
 Page 21 - Marxist Critique
 Page 22 - Late developments since 1989 and 9/11
 Pages 23 to 26 - Quotations
 Pages 27 - Community of inquiry on Ethical Relativism
 Pages 28-29 - Bibliography
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3. You Tube Introduction to Postmodernism
 Click on the image
to the left. You will
need to be
connected to the
internet to view this
presentation.
 Enlarge to full
screen
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4. Postmodernism
Postmodernism
literally means 'after
the modernist
movement'.
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5. Postmodernism
It is used in critical
theory to refer to a
point of departure
for works of
literature, drama,
architecture, and
design. 5

6. Postmodernism
Postmodernism is an aesthetic,
literary, political or social philosophy,
which was the basis of the attempt to
describe a condition, or a state of
being, or something concerned with
changes to institutions and conditions
(as in Giddens, 1990) as
postmodernity.
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7. Postmodernism
 The term postmodern is described by
Merriam-Webster as meaning either "of,
relating to, or being an era after a modern one" or "of,
relating to, or being any of various movements in
reaction to modernism that are typically characterized
by a return to traditional materials and forms (as in
architecture) or by ironic self-reference and absurdity
(as in literature)", or finally "of, relating to, or being a
theory that involves a radical reappraisal of modern
assumptions about culture, identity, history, or
language.
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8. Postmodernism
Postmodernism was
originally a reaction to
modernism.
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9. Postmodernism
Postmodernity is a derivative
referring to non-art aspects of
history that were influenced by
the new movement, namely
developments in society,
economy and culture since the
1960s. 9

10. Notable philosophical and literary
contributors
Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich
Nietzsche and other late 19th
and early 20th century authors
laid the groundwork for
the existential movement
of the 20th century.
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11. Notable philosophical and literary
contributors
Art and literature of the early
part of the 20th century play
a significant part in shaping
the character of postmodern
culture.
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12. Notable philosophical and literary
contributors
Some other significant
contributions to postmodern
culture from literary figures
include the following: Jorge Luis
Borges experimented in
metafiction and magical realism.
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13. Notable philosophical and
literary contributors
 Writers such as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert
Camus drew heavily from Kierkegaard and
Nietzsche, and other previous thinkers, and
brought about a new sense of subjectivity,
and forlornness, which greatly influenced
contemporary thinkers, writers, and artists.
Karl Barth's fideist approach to theology and
lifestyle, brought an irreverence for reason,
and the rise of subjectivity.
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14. Notable philosophical and literary
contributors
Postcolonialism after
World War II
contributed to the idea
that one cannot have an
objectively superior
lifestyle or belief.
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15. Notable philosophical and
literary contributors
It is possible to identify the
burgeoning anti-
establishment movements of
the 1960s as the constituting
event of postmodernism.
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16. Criticisms
The term postmodernism, when
used pejoratively, describes
tendencies perceived as relativist,
counter-enlightenment or
antimodern, particularly in relation
to critiques of rationalism,
universalism or science. 16

17. Criticisms
As meaningless or disingenuous
 The criticism of elements of postmodernism as
sophism or obscurantism was played out in the
Sokal Affair, where Alan Sokal, a physicist,
delivered for publication an article about
interpreting physics and mathematics in terms
of postmodern theory, which he had
deliberately written to mock postmodernist
views on objectivity, determinism and the
social construction of scientific truth.
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18. Criticisms
As meaningless or disingenuous
Biologist Richard Dawkins believes
that postmodernists generally are
intellectual charlatans who
deliberately obscure weak or
nonsensical ideas with ostentatious
and difficult to understand verbiage.
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19. Criticisms
The linguist Noam Chomsky
has suggested that
postmodernism is
meaningless because it adds
nothing to analytical or
empirical knowledge.
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20. Criticisms
As political
 Michel Foucault rejected the label of
postmodernism explicitly in interviews but
is seen by many to advocate a form of
critique that is "postmodern" in that it
breaks with the utopian and transcendental
nature of "modern" critique by calling
universal norms of the Enlightenment into
question.
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21. Criticisms
Marxist critique
 Callinicos attacks notable postmodern
thinkers such as Baudrillard and Lyotard,
arguing postmodernism "reflects the
disappointed revolutionary generation of
'68, (particularly those of May 68) and the
incorporation of many of its members into
the professional and managerial 'new
middle class'.
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22. Criticisms
Late developments after 1989 and 9/11
What has been underestimated and
only poorly researched so far seems to
be the ”late ethical and theological
turn” of many leading postmodernist
thinkers, such as Jacques Derrida,
Helene Cixous, Paul Feyerabend and
Jean Francois Lyotard.
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23. Quotations
 In 1994, the then-President of the Czech Republic and
renowned playwright Václav Havel gave a hopeful
description of the postmodern world as one based on
science, and yet paradoxically “where everything is
possible and almost nothing is certain.”
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24. Quotations
 Josh McDowell & Bob Hostetler offer the following
definition of postmodernism:
“A worldview characterized by the belief that truth
doesn’t exist in any objective sense but is created
rather than discovered.”… Truth is “created by the
specific culture and exists only in that culture.
Therefore, any system or statement that tries to
communicate truth is a power play, an effort to
dominate other cultures.”
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25. Quotations
 In the introduction to his Treatise on Twelve
Lights, Robert Struble, Jr. states: "The
postmodernist worldview dismisses all
forms of absolutism from eras past,
especially Judeo-Christian faith and morals;
yet the postmodernists idolize absolutely
their new secular trinity of tolerance–
diversity–choice.”
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26. Community of Inquiry
 CLICK ON THIS
LINK FOR THE
STIMULUS FOR A
DISCUSSION ON
ETHICAL
RELATIVISM. (You
might like to print
this material out
and distribute it to
the class.)
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27. Bibliography
 Alexie, Sherman (2000). "The Toughest Indian in the World" (ISBN 0-8021-3800-4)
 Anderson, Walter Truett. The Truth about the Truth (New Consciousness Reader). New York: Tarcher. (1995) (ISBN 0-
87477-801-8)
 Ashley, Richard and Walker, R. B. J. (1990) “Speaking the Language of Exile.” International Studies Quarterly v 34, no 3
259-68.
 Bauman, Zygmunt (2000) Liquid Modernity. Cambridge: Polity Press.
 Beck, Ulrich (1986) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity.
 Benhabib, Seyla (1995) 'Feminism and Postmodernism' in (ed. Nicholson) Feminism Contentions: A Philosophical
Exchange. New York: Routledge.
 Berman, Marshall (1982) All That Is Solid Melts Into Air: The Experience of Modernity (ISBN 0-14-010962-5).
 Bertens, Hans (1995) The Idea of the Postmodern: A History. London: Routledge.(ISBN 0-145-06012-5).
 Bielskis, Andrius (2005) Towards a Postmodern Understanding of the Political: From Genealogy to Hermeneutics
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
 Brass, Tom, Peasants, Populism and Postmodernism (London: Cass, 2000).
 Butler, Judith (1995) 'Contingent Foundations' in (ed. Nicholson) Feminist Contentions: A Philosophical Exchange. New
Yotk: Routledge.
 Callinicos, Alex, Against Postmodernism: A Marxist Critique (Cambridge: Polity, 1999).
 Castells, Manuel (1996) The Network Society.
 Coupland, Douglas (1991). "Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture" (ISBN 0-312-05436-X)
 Downing, Crystal L. How Postmodernism Serves (My) Faith, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006) ISBN 10--0-8308-
2758-7
 Drabble, M. The Oxford Companion to English Literature, 6 ed., article "Postmodernism".
 Farrell, John. "Paranoia and Postmodernism," the epilogue to Paranoia and Modernity: Cervantes to
 Featherstone, M. (1991) Consumer culture and postmodernism, London ; Newbury Park, Calif., Sage Publications.
 Rousseau (Cornell UP, 2006), 309-327.
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28. Bibliography
 Goulimari, Pelagia (ed.) (2007) Postmodernism. What Moment? Manchester: Manchester University Press (ISBN 978-0-7190-7308-3)
 Giddens, Anthony (1991) Modernity and Self Identity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
 Grebowicz, Margaret (ed.), Gender After Lyotard. NY: Suny Press, 2007. (ISBN 978-0-7914-6956-9)
 Greer, Robert C. Mapping Postmodernism. IL: Intervarsity Press, 2003. (ISBN 0-8308-2733-1)
 Groothuis, Douglas. Truth Decay. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2000.
 Harvey, David (1989) The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change (ISBN 0-631-16294-1)
 Hicks, Stephen R. C. (2004) Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault (ISBN 1-59247-646-5)
 Honderich, T., The Oxford Companion to Philosophy, article "Postmodernism".
 Jameson, Fredric (1991) Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (ISBN 0-8223-1090-2)
 Lash, S. (1990) The sociology of postmodernism, London, Routledge.
 Lyotard, Jean-François (1984) The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (ISBN 0-8166-1173-4)
 --- (1988). The Postmodern Explained: Correspondence 1982-1985. Ed. Julian Pefanis and Morgan Thomas. (ISBN 0-8166-2211-6)
 --- (1993), "Scriptures: Diffracted Traces." In: Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 21(1), 2004.
 --- (1995), "Anamnesis: Of the Visible." In: Theory, Culture and Society, Vol. 21(1), 2004.
 MacIntyre, Alasdair, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory (University of Notre Dame Press, 1984, 2nd edn.).
 Manuel, Peter. "Music as Symbol, Music as Simulacrum: Pre-Modern, Modern, and Postmodern Aesthetics in Subcultural Musics," Popular
Music 1/2, 1995, pp. 227-239.
 Murphy, Nancey, Anglo-American Postmodernity: Philosophical Perspectives on Science, Religion, and Ethics (Westview Press, 1997).
 Natoli, Joseph (1997) A Primer to Postmodernity (ISBN 1-57718-061-5)
 Norris, Christopher (1990) What's Wrong with Postmodernism: Critical Theory and the Ends of Philosophy (ISBN 0-8018-4137-2)
 Pangle, Thomas L., The Ennobling of Democracy: The Challenge of the Postmodern Age, Baltimore, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991
ISBN 0-8018-4635-8
 Sokal, Alan and Jean Bricmont (1998) Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science (ISBN 0-312-20407-8)
 Taylor, Alan (2005) We, the media. Pedagogic Intrusions into US Film and Television News Broadcasting Rhetorics', Peter Lang, pp. 418 (ISBN
3-631-51852-8)
 Vattimo, Gianni (1989). The Transparent Society (ISBN 0-8018-4528-9)
 Veith Jr., Gene Edward (1994) Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture (ISBN 0-89107-768-5)
 Woods, Tim, Beginning Postmodernism, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999,(Reprinted 2002)(ISBN 0-7190-5210-6
Hardback,ISBN 0-7190-5211-4 Paperback) .
 Wikipedia-Postmodernism-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodernism 28