[lit-ideas] Re: The Death of Postmodernism And Beyond
- From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Lit-Ideas <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 6 May 2013 14:52:38 +0900
"What does postmodernist thought say?"
Wrong question. Assumes what postmodernist thought denies, that a single,
unequivocal answer is possible. Brief summary of directions follows.
1. Polysemy, ambiguity, and conflicting interpretations are the normal
state of natural language.
2. Meaning is a function of relation to the term or statement in question.
3. Since no human is God Almighty, our relations to what is said are
inevitably partial.
As the second Isaiah puts it, "The Lord said to Cyrus the Persian, 'Shall
the clay say to Him who molds it, what makest thou? Let the potsherd of the
earth speak to the potsherd of the earth."
Note: There is nothing in these observations that denies that science is
the best of all ways to approach truth—just a reminder that no uppity
mortal will ever reach it whole and unbroken.
John
On Mon, May 6, 2013 at 2:44 PM, Adriano Palma <Palma@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> could someone state what post modernist thought say?
> avoid diarrohea
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Ritchie
> Sent: 06 May 2013 07:24 AM
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The Death of Postmodernism And Beyond
>
> So the article has a 2006 copyright and a 2013 publication date. That's
> an unusual way to find one's way to the essence of...to use the term Kirby
> uses...today's "cultural production."
>
> I wonder if Whistler, his mother, Jane Austen knew they were engaged in
> cultural production?
>
> I read a similar article when the CD Rom was the latest hot thing. Robbe
> Grillet was suddenly out of date and people were said to be finding their
> own ways to locate and navigate stains on their walls. I doubt many did.
>
> Intellectual change happens, says the man who trained as an intellectual
> historian, but contemporaries are not good at noting exactly when.
>
> David Ritchie,
> Portland,
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--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
jlm@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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