Eli5: What is modernism and post-modernism?
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Coming out of the Reformation, a bunch of guys got together in a philosophical and political movement called “The Enlightenment.” They looked at what Newton and Descartes had done in science and wanted to do the same in law and ethics. They said, “Just as we can drive universal mathematical truths and arrive at scientific laws, we can find universal moral truths to derive political laws!”
In response a bunch of artists, philosophers, and theologians collectively called “Romantics” said, “Hold on. This is great and all, but there are all kinds of things beyond your ability to just study in book. You can’t reduce the human experience to a set of equations!”
To which the Modernists replied, “Fuck you, watch us.” They came up with a whole bunch of ideas, not just in the hard sciences but in politics and social sciences, that were all based around “objectivity” and the idea that they were perfect, rational observers.
Eventually the Post-modernists show up. They look at the core of all Modernist thought and say that objectivity was always a comforting lie. “All these ‘laws’ of yours are just stories you tell to explain the world to yourself. They might be useful, but stories change depending on the person telling them and the audience.” They got very interested in the idea that *ideas* can tell you about the people who hold them.
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