Changes

'''Postmodernism''' is a recent movement in the humanities characterized by denial of the possibility of knowing objective truth, and which asserts that assertions of objective knowledge are generally impossible.  For example, the postmodern will look at a statement primarily in terms of the motives of the person making it. It emphasizes the role of language, and of power relations involved in being male (versus female), straight (versus gay), white (vesus colored), and imperial (versus colonial).

'''Postmodernism''' is an [[antichristian]],<ref>John F. MacArthur, "Think Biblically!"[http://books.google.ca/books?id=TLHM6mM1KkYC]</ref> far-left, 20th century [[worldview]] and [[academic]] movement characterized by denial of objective truth, and which asserts that assertions of objective knowledge are essentially impossible.  A strong part of postmodernist thought is an intentional departure from traditional approaches that had previously been dominant. Postmodernity has influenced many disparate fields of study, such as architecture, history, literary criticism, art, and others.

Postmodernity has influenced many disparate fields of the humanities, such as literary criticism, linguistics, art history, and photography.  It promotes the study of gay culture (called Queer Theory) as well as Women's Studies.  It is weakly represented in historiography and the social sciences, and practically does not exist in the sciences or engineering.

The term "postmodernism" comes from the causal relationship the movement has to [[modernism]], rather than a temporal relationship.  Both movements coexist today.

* Truth is a "[[social construct]]," rather than objectively provable.

Postmodernism emerged from "structuralism" and "poststructuralism" in French philosophy of the 1960s, who were influenced by the German philosopher [[Nietzsche]] (1844-1900); it adopted a good deal of poststructuralism, but it broadened and extended poststructuralism to topics that focused on a wide-ranging critique of the modern world.<ref> Historian [[Arnold Toynbee]] first used the term "postmodern" in 1954, but in a very different sense.</ref>  Influential French postmodernists include

* A society's choice of language reflects their general perceptions of the rules by which the world operates (see [[political correctness]]).

Lyotard (who identified and rejected the master narratives of modernism), Derrida (with his notion of deconstruction of a text to see what really motivated it), Foucault (who stressed that power creates or causes accepted knowledge) and Baudrillard (who introduced notions of implosion, hyperreality, and simulacra).  

* There is no one superior culture; [[Western culture]] is no better than any other (see [[cultural relativism]]).  This often takes the form of ridicule of anything deemed to be part of [[traditional values]] or mainstream [[American]] culture.  

* The frequent use of irony and humorous [[wordplay]] to shift the meanings of words is encouraged as this causes people to rethink their assumptions about culture and language.

* [[Gender role]]s, [[sexuality]] and [[race]] are socially constructed, not [[inborn traits]].

Other favorite terms are: ''spectacle, pastiche, ambiguity, doubt, contradiction, novelty, reflexivity, otherness, difference, identity, heterogeneity, upheaval, carnival, turbulence, instability, discontinuity, limitless choice, and flux.''

Critics of postmodernism include those who believe in an objective truth that can be explored by human means, among others.

==Ideas==

==Postmodernism, anti-Americanism, and reverse racism==

* Truth is often [[Social Construct|constructed]] and manipulated by a society's leaders, privileged classes, and institutions of power. <ref>Sarbin, Theodore R. "The Social Construction of Truth." in ''Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology.'' Vol 18(2), Fal 1998, 144-150.</ref>

It is likewise used to attack and condemn the work and culture of white males, by claiming that any such cultural output, be it art, music, literature, etc., is patriarchal and imperialistic.

* There is no one superior culture; it is a fallacy to presume that [[Western culture]] is somehow better than others, a position often taken by people locked inside the culture who have not been able to take a broader viewpoint.

* Postmodernists often use irony and wordplay to shift the meanings of words, so that readers can better realize the unspoken assumptions they have been making.

* [[Gender role]]s, sexuality and race are [[social constructionism|socially constructed]], not inborn traits that are the same forever in all societies.

Critics of postmodernism include traditionalists who believe that truths from authoritative sources should always be believed, and modernists who believe that rational, scientific approaches can lead to the discovery of the truth.

Postmodernists seek to denigrate [[Christianity]] and its accomplishments by claiming that it is only an aspect of western culture, and not inherently true.  Likewise they denigrate the strong Christian [[scientific]] tradition, and attempt to marginalize Christian historical figures such as [[Isaac Newton]].

==Postmodern Criticism in the Humanities==

Postmodernists rely on the antichristian and [[pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] psychological theories of [[atheist]] [[Sigmund Freud]] to draw whatever meanings they want out of texts, in a method called "psychoanalytical criticism."

A popular tactic of postmodernism is to attack or ridicule the western canon of literature, music, and art. Implied in such rhetorical flourishes as the "Great Man" theory and the epithet "Dead White Male" is the criticism that the canon, because of its exclusion of works by women and minorities, is undeserving of respect. In the past several decades, this has led to intense debate over curriculum in public schools and universities, especially over which literary works should be taught in classrooms.<ref>http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/18/opinion/the-crime-of-white-maleness.html</ref>

Criticisms of this stance often make one of two points. First is that the epithet "dead white male" focuses disproportionately on race and gender, obscuring the fact that many artists traditionally have struggled to survive or made brave stances against authority. The second point is that the works of the canon are indeed valuable, and recognizing this value does not prohibit us from studying valuable art of other cultures or from traditionally opressed groups in western culture.<ref>http://media.www.thetriangle.org/media/storage/paper689/news/2006/01/27/EdOp/dead-White.Men.Have.Much.To.Offer.Students-1515340.shtml</ref>

As postmodernism teaches that there is no truth, it likewise teaches that there is no absolute [[morality]]. Within this worldview, any action is moral or justifiable, and postmodernism's spread among academia may go some way to explaining [[professor values]].

==The Sokal Affair==

==Discredited==

Alan Sokal famously exposed postmodern approaches to the hard sciences as deeply flawed in 1996 by successfully publishing nonsense in a [[Social Text|postmodern humanities journal]], making it a laughing stock among scientists.<ref>http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/index.html</ref>

Alan Sokal famously exposed postmodernism as deeply flawed in 1996 by successfully publishing nonsense in a postmodern journal.<ref>http://www.physics.nyu.edu/faculty/sokal/index.html</ref> Since then, postmodernism has largely been considered a laughingstock among all but the most liberal academics.

==See Also==

==See Also==

* [[Deconstruction]]

* [[Deconstruction]]

* [[Queer theory]]

* [[Queer theory]]

* [[Nihilism]]

* [[Nihilism]]

==References==

==References==