Anti-Postmodernism

The period we now live in is called postmodernism. Jean-Francois Lyotard has said that in postmodernism one has given up the idea of a grand narrative. Belief in universal criteria, like those in the Enlightenment, has been replaced by the postmodern relativism and pluralism. The idea now is to accept a number of different perspectives, and not exclude any expression or perspective from the culture or information stream. Postmodernism is the philosophical equivalent to New York City: Embracing pluralism, combination and diversity. As Lyotard claims, a unified culture has now been replaced by a culture full of many small stories, many different critieria – a polyphony of voices.

An argument against postmodernism is that is has no set definition and is therefore is very hard to define. Postmodernism tends to argue for situated knowledge (knowledge embedded in a particular discipline with a history etc.). It tends to reject any idea of truth that claims we can have access to some ahistorical knowledge of objective reality (what is sometimes mocked by post-modernists as the God's eye view).

It is hard to tell exactly what some postmodern philosophers are talking about because they tend to be so obscure in their writing.