Eli5: What is modernism and post-modernism?
In: 81
For the Russian-speaking auditory – here is a good video explaining Modern vs Postmodern thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLKB2f_qAFA
Deep topic. You should read “Explaining Postmodernism” by Stephen Hicks.
In a few words as I can manage, Modernism is the school of thought that led to science and medicine. It’s responsible for the acceleration of medical, scientific and technological development. It is where logic thrives.
Post-modernism is essentially a new age rehash of what the dominant thought process was before Modernism took hold; i.e., a theocratic, anti-logic, god-based way of seeing the world and ascribing morality to it.
Post-modernism seeks to deconstruct Modernism around the core tenet that objective reality is impossible to ascertain and that any attempt to do so will always yield subjective truths. The post-modernist school of thought used to be sophisticated, but it has metastasized into a parody of its former self, with all manner of low IQ idiots–leftists–decreeing all manner of chaotic, anti-reality crap, including that meritocracies are purposeless and that there is no such thing as biological sex.
Anyhow, read the book I recommended. It’s all in there.
For the Russian-speaking auditory – here is a good video explaining Modern vs Postmodern thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLKB2f_qAFA
Deep topic. You should read “Explaining Postmodernism” by Stephen Hicks.
In a few words as I can manage, Modernism is the school of thought that led to science and medicine. It’s responsible for the acceleration of medical, scientific and technological development. It is where logic thrives.
Post-modernism is essentially a new age rehash of what the dominant thought process was before Modernism took hold; i.e., a theocratic, anti-logic, god-based way of seeing the world and ascribing morality to it.
Post-modernism seeks to deconstruct Modernism around the core tenet that objective reality is impossible to ascertain and that any attempt to do so will always yield subjective truths. The post-modernist school of thought used to be sophisticated, but it has metastasized into a parody of its former self, with all manner of low IQ idiots–leftists–decreeing all manner of chaotic, anti-reality crap, including that meritocracies are purposeless and that there is no such thing as biological sex.
Anyhow, read the book I recommended. It’s all in there.
There are good detailed answers here. I just want add a TL;DR version. (Keep in mind that it’s too simplified, of course)
Before modernism: We are helpless. The God and the established order will show us the way.
Modernism: By our reason, we are mighty. The reason will show us the way.
Post-modernism: The reason as well as God is helpless. Nothing will show us the way.
A lot of good responses here and you can see the variation in how the words are interpreted, but also get a general sense of the philosophical movements.
One thing missing is that we are now moving post-postmodern. The book Digimodernism argues that whereas Modernists saw truth and beauty as objective and universal; and Postmodernists saw truth and beauty as subjective and temporary; Digimodernists see truth and beauty as things that we collectively define.
A good analogy is literature. Modernists say that the author had an intent, and the goal of reading is to understand that intent. Postmodernists say that the authors intent isn’t relevant, what is relevant is how you construct meaning from the text. Digimodernism is fanfiction in which the anonymous collective reinterprets and reinvents and retcons the work in entirely new ways, and then treats this as the understanding du jour.
There are good detailed answers here. I just want add a TL;DR version. (Keep in mind that it’s too simplified, of course)
Before modernism: We are helpless. The God and the established order will show us the way.
Modernism: By our reason, we are mighty. The reason will show us the way.
Post-modernism: The reason as well as God is helpless. Nothing will show us the way.
A lot of good responses here and you can see the variation in how the words are interpreted, but also get a general sense of the philosophical movements.
One thing missing is that we are now moving post-postmodern. The book Digimodernism argues that whereas Modernists saw truth and beauty as objective and universal; and Postmodernists saw truth and beauty as subjective and temporary; Digimodernists see truth and beauty as things that we collectively define.
A good analogy is literature. Modernists say that the author had an intent, and the goal of reading is to understand that intent. Postmodernists say that the authors intent isn’t relevant, what is relevant is how you construct meaning from the text. Digimodernism is fanfiction in which the anonymous collective reinterprets and reinvents and retcons the work in entirely new ways, and then treats this as the understanding du jour.
In general the two are simply chronological: modern means more recent than ancient and postmodern means after modern. While any number of social scientists or historians can give an authoritative answer, the truth is more nuanced than any such simplistic definitions.
Modernism is the philosophical idea that human reasoning is, could be, or should be, or can be and is improved by being, mathematical logic and computational, a premise founded by the ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Although it didn’t really catch on as such until after the Renaissance, and led to the Enlightenment, the principle of modernism calls for focusing more on empiricism and science than religion and morality.
Postmodernism is the successor to modernism, which developed after Darwin discovered that the existence of humanity can be explained by natural rather than divine causes. The last excuse for classical Cartesian dualism evaporated and the *information processing theory of mind* became the prevailing dogma. The notion that since cellular neurological activity can be modeled mathematically then our conscious thoughts and reasoning are therefore mathematical is simply too irresistible, regardless of how much evidence is available to show that it is at best an oversimplification, and quite possibly completely erroneous. Certainly science is powerful and productive, as long as the pesky matters of emotion, language, art, and morality are not at issue, deprecated as “subjective” and therefore essentially imaginary. And so the postmodern age becomes the era of “post-truth”, as we see it today, with the attendant violence, corruption, and bigotry infecting our society and anxiety, depression, and suicide infesting our selves.
In general the two are simply chronological: modern means more recent than ancient and postmodern means after modern. While any number of social scientists or historians can give an authoritative answer, the truth is more nuanced than any such simplistic definitions.
Modernism is the philosophical idea that human reasoning is, could be, or should be, or can be and is improved by being, mathematical logic and computational, a premise founded by the ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Although it didn’t really catch on as such until after the Renaissance, and led to the Enlightenment, the principle of modernism calls for focusing more on empiricism and science than religion and morality.
Postmodernism is the successor to modernism, which developed after Darwin discovered that the existence of humanity can be explained by natural rather than divine causes. The last excuse for classical Cartesian dualism evaporated and the *information processing theory of mind* became the prevailing dogma. The notion that since cellular neurological activity can be modeled mathematically then our conscious thoughts and reasoning are therefore mathematical is simply too irresistible, regardless of how much evidence is available to show that it is at best an oversimplification, and quite possibly completely erroneous. Certainly science is powerful and productive, as long as the pesky matters of emotion, language, art, and morality are not at issue, deprecated as “subjective” and therefore essentially imaginary. And so the postmodern age becomes the era of “post-truth”, as we see it today, with the attendant violence, corruption, and bigotry infecting our society and anxiety, depression, and suicide infesting our selves.
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