Postmodernism

Postmodernism is a way of thinking about culture, philosophy, art and many other things. The term has been used in many different ways at different times, but there are some things in common.

Postmodernism says that there is no real truth. It says that knowledge is always made or invented and not discovered. Because knowledge is made by people, a person cannot know something for sure - all ideas and facts are 'believed' instead of 'known'. People believe that they know what the truth is, but they will think that the truth is something different later. This is the opposite of 'objectivity', which says that the truth is always there and people have to discover it.

Since postmodernism says that the truth is just a thing that people invent, people can believe different things and think it is the truth and all be right. Postmodernism says that one person should not try to make another person believe what he believes, because it means nothing to say that one belief is right and the other is wrong. Postmodernism says that if somebody has a belief and tries to make somebody else believe it also, it means that they are just trying to have power over them.

Starting with the 18th century Enlightenment and into the early 20th century, many people believed that science and new knowledge would make the world better. When scientists or philosophers discovered something new, it would always make society a little bit better. They thought that social progress could not be stopped. Modernism especially believed this. But postmodernism says that there is no real social progress. It says that while some things about the world change, people only want to believe that the world is better than it was. It changes but does not get better, because there is no 'better.'

Postmodernism says that since peoples' opinions change, and since one person's opinion cannot be more right than another, it means nothing to say that (for example) one work of art is better than any other. Postmodernism says that art, music, and literature, for example, can be anything that its maker says that it is. Postmodern art and literature commonly talk about themselves and make fun of themselves. They make fun of 'serious' art and even the idea of art. Postmodernism has influenced many cultural fields, including literary criticism, philosophy, sociology, linguistics, architecture, visual arts, and music.

The term postmodernism was first commonly used in 1949 to talk about modern architecture. Many people did not like modern architecture because it had too many box-like shapes and people did not think it was pretty. Some of them started the postmodern architecture movement.^[1] Postmodern architecture uses surface ornament, historical reference, and fewer box-like shapes.

Postmodernist ideas can be seen in philosophy, the study of culture and society, literature, architecture, design, as well as in history and law. Postmodernism also led people to think differently about love, marriage, popular culture, and the change in much of the Western world from an industrial to service economy.

The term postmodernity usually means the period of time when postmodern ideas became common (the second half of the 20th century).^[2] Some experts think that postmodernism is now over, especially in literature.^[3]

1. ↑ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004
2. ↑ Influences on postmodern thought, Paul Lützeler (St. Louis)
3. ↑ Kirby, Alan 2006. The death of postmodernism and beyond. Philosophy Now #58.[1]