Hello.
The following was written by José Guillermo Fouce in a paper entitled "Facing Postmodernity" that reminds us what the C's told us about the Tower of Babel:
"4. Society [in Postmodernism] is conceived as a scenario of discursive struggles, of texts, language speaks language, of some words and interpretations to others, it never gets out of it. Communication is chaotic, fragmented, the world itself also dissolves into fragments, the real ceases to make sense, becomes a fable, with this fragmentation of language, different languages are liberated, we are in a world of dialects, in a world of diverse values, differences are liberated and those without voice can speak.
José Guillermo Fouce José Guillermo Fouce enumerates the main characteristics of postmodernism based on the main postmodernists Burillo, González, Moreno and Munné:
1. Dissolution of the notion of foundation. End of metaphysics. The basis is necessarily linguistic. Abandonment of science based on observable facts.
2. All discourses are equivalent, you can say what you want to say.
3. Loss of meaning of the whole, of the great stories (the emancipation and progress of the human species, science, history as a motor, meaning and purpose). All universalist affirmation is discredited (weak thought, uncertainty, resurgence of localisms and nationalisms). History, for example, would only exist in textbooks and would have been invented by historians, there are only multiple narrations, the history is clear from its duration and is wrapped in a permanent present, the great stories die, the fragment replaces them . Lyotard, for example, points out that "simplifying to the maximum is considered postmodern disbelief to the meta stories"
5. The interpretation will be found in the center, interpretation that will always be a text, which must be colored; thus, the words and the text (a photo, a painting, a musical work ...) only acquire meaning within a context and there would be no univocal interpretation. However, within this general conception would fit a strong version (it is worth anything because "I feel like it" or it seems to me) and a weak one (the text has its rights and demands, it must be interpreted but the text, as such, it exists, and it must be respected).
6. Relativism and pluralism. Revaluation of the minority, the majority is under suspicion. Ethics is dead, there are no possible categorical imperatives, the pleasure principle dominates everything, barriers disappear, nothing is forbidden, you have to be happy, that is what is important. (reminds us the Dyonisiac FRV)
7. If modernity consecrated the text, as a written practice, now the oral word will be vindicated, what is written is dead, it can not be defended. There is even talk of the passage from the value of the word to the value of the image.
8. Relevance of hyperreality, of virtual reality where we can frame the famous phrase of Baudrillard that the "war of the Gulf, did not exist, was a hyper reality."
9. Dissolution of borders between disciplines. The reality is not parcelable. The differences between truth, goodness and art are dissolved as three great classical categories. Loss of prestige of the intellectual and the thinker.
10. The objective reality according to postmodernity is a discursive construction, there is no direct knowledge of the world; of the world we speak conventionally (that is, by consensus, which is not the same as arbitrarily). Everything is social practice, construction.
11. Postmodernity is a consequence of democracy, of taking the subject seriously, of granting him freedom and thought.
12. Nihilism without tragedy. There are no tears in the multiple burial of reason, progress, modernity or great doctrines or values, weak thinking is good and positive since trying to find a unique and total meaning for life carries the risk of betting on " all or nothing ", however, the one that little bet, little loses; On the other hand, the great buried cosmovisions are potentially totalizing, trying to gain adepts, however, the one who thinks weak is necessarily tolerant.
13. Reflexivity. The social sciences are, above all, consciousness of matter, matter becoming conscious, which would lead researchers to the development of self-fulfilling prophecy.
14. Loss of legitimacy and delegitimization of institutions and the public. The State loses prestige and attributes, just like the family or the church.
15. Without history, without references, there are no obligations, the future is non-existent, there are no debts with the past, there is only the present, no roots, no projects. People wander forever, without end, or any objective, which, on the other hand, is seen as positive and constitutes an occasion for human fulfillment, but, assuming that only exists and counts the present, it is the return to carpe diem, to presenteeism. With the great theories and doctrines buried in the hand of reason, there remains only the possibility of the weak or the light, of the fragmentary: "I now and here, I say this".
16. Psychological and hedonistic individualism: to live as best as possible, on demand, without repression or ascribed identities, with high doses of tolerance (rather ambiguity) in the face of contrary events. The hedonism returns to the center (before Prometheus identified the moderns, now from finding that Prometheus was, rather, Sisipho is posited to Narcissus as the new hero prototype with which to identify); you have to enjoy life without striving to undertake historical trips to nonexistent promised lands, you can only take refuge in oneself, it is the time of self and of intimacy, of the absence of ideals. With the death of reason, we move from homo sapiens to homo sentimentalis, feeling is above reason, is, "I feel, therefore I am"; sensitivity, subjectivity replace reason, you must not, or can not, think.
17. The individual appears fragmented. The subject, not guided by any principle, follows multiple and contrary logic, is not integrated, is not coherent, each one elaborates "on demand" the elements that serve him, taking from here and there, as it seems, without worry about consistency; it is tested and changed quickly, nothing surprises, anything goes, there is no need to hold on to anything for too long. The pleasure is brief and punctual, the cold sex, the superficial and not lasting relationships, in addition, they are not exclusive or do not have to be.
18. Indifference with a face of tolerance. Without reason you can not reach any social consensus, everything fits, everything has its audience, even the biggest extravagances, no exist nor is it possible the truth, nor justice, there are only infinite micro communities heterogeneous among themselves, the fragment is praised and constituted as the main element. The common good does not exist. You have to live and let live, rather than guided by tolerance guided by indifference.
19. The return of sorcerers, magic and a religion light, a la carte, made of a mixture of principles from here and there without worrying about the coexistence between incoherent elements. It is, the boom of esotericism and the occult sciences, in a commerce that increases without ceasing, it is, the emergence of destructive sects, of myths and manias... of not believing in God seems to happen to
believe in everything.
In short, the key elements of postmodernity would be: absolute disbelief (not believing in anything or anyone, neither in convictions, nor political, nor religious, nor moral), uncertainty as a general epistemological category, complexity and disenchantment.
Facing Postmodernity
National University of San Luis, Argentina.
