Enlightenment: Epistemological Privilege the Enlightment

¶ … Enlightenment: Epistemological Privilege

"the Enlightment Project Revisited"

This article provides a relatively thorough outline of the main issues and contending points-of-view in the debate about postmodern.

The author points out that postmodernism refers to more than only political and economic facets of society and culture and that it can also mean a radical change in mindsets and the way the world is perceived.

Postmodernism "deconstructs" society and reality and presents a new way of understanding the world and social existence. Deconstruction refers to the process of interrogating and questioning the views, norms and assumptions about society and reality that were previously seen to be "established" or the "truth." This also refers to the values and preconceptions that formed part of the Enlightenment and the modernist period. The " Enlightenment project" is not a set and definitive array of concepts but rather a nexus or a central body of assumptions and thought patterns that are obviously and clearly discernable. Included in the concepts interrogated from a postmodern perspective are aspects such as the assumption that society is something that can be abstracted and analyzed in an objective sense, divorced from subjective perceptions.

In essence, the postmodernist stance is one that questions and radically interrogates all assumptions and presuppositions in the social sciences. Social scientists have become more involve in philosophical discourse because their theories and views about society are based on assumptions and preconceptions that form an important part of the modern philosophical debate. These include the cardinal view that society is a holistic and integrated entity; that rational, objective and universal knowledge is possible; and that social knowledge necessarily leads to forms of liberation.

Responses to postmodernism range form acceptance, outright rejection and a compromise between Enlightenment thinking and postmodernist deconstruction and interrogation.

A more extreme form of postmodernism is exemplified in the views of a philosopher like Jean-Francois Lyotard, who suggests that the master narratives of the Enlightenment be discarded in the light of postmodern interrogation. Master narratives are the underlying ideologies or trajectories of thought and the assumptions or preconceptions that underpin the core of Enlightenment thinking. Lyotard attacks in particular the scientific and objectivist preconceptions of the Enlightenment; as well as the idea that "pure" knowledge is possible. He suggests that truth and knowledge are relative to historical and other contexts. He also points out that some form of knowledge have been "privileged" over others - which is a central tenet of postmodernism and post structural thought. From this perspective, truth and knowledge are in fact "language games" or a question of the way that semantics and language influence perceptions of reality.

On the other hand, thinkers like Habermas view modernism and the Enlightenment in a more positive light as freeing knowledge from the metaphysical and religious dominance of the past. Habermas also points out that specialization and the emergence of disciplines helped to protect knowledge from being devalued by the general public. He sees postmodernism as being too radical in refusing to see the positive aspects of modernism. From this perspective, postmodernism is also criticized for being too extreme and for eradicating hope through the concept of relativity.

This in turn lads to the central problem of relativism in postmodernism. This refers to the debate about whether there are any underlying and permanent forms of truth or reality.. This leads in turn to the debate about cultural and cognitive realism. Other theories also critique the radical postmodern approach and state that there are instances where cultural a social commonalities cut across the divide created by relativism. Theorists such as Goodens reject the view that true knowledge of society is no longer possible

Social Pluralism and Post- Modernity"

In this article, the cultural shift from modernism to postmodernism is discussed. The central question that is explored is the nature of postmodernism in term of cultural change - and to what extent postmodernism is indicative of a political, economic as well as cultural change in society. Related to this is the cardinal issue of whether postmodernism can be seen as a radical or "epochal" change in human culture. The following are the central points discussed.

Neo- Marxists see the postmodern as being related to the emergence of the capitalistic economic imperative. The Marxist view views the postmodern as the culture of late Capitalism (Jameson), which in turn is not "epochal" or unique but is essentially an outgrowth of Capitalistic politics and economics.

This is in contrast to the more positive appraisals of postmodernism by other theorists like Hebdige; who envisages a reduction of class consciousness and other positive outcomes of the postmodern mode of thought.

Baudrillard's view is also considered, which tends to see postmodernism in terms of a "new" or epochal change in various aspects of human culture. Despite his pessimism and rejection of postmodern culture, he provides insight into the nature of postmodern culture. He stresses, for example, the way that postmodern culture is focused on images, similitude or representations of reality and whether it is no longer possible to separate reality from fiction.

Baudrillard's view is also important it that it highlights two central aspects of postmodernism and its influence; namely the emergence of the information society through technology and the mass media and consumerism.

This also refers to the important aspect of signs or signifiers and the relationship between the signifier and the signified. In other words, in the postmodern context words and their meaning are no longer linked by ultimate and objective truths but are relative and malleable, depending on their context. This refers to the well- known postmodern concept of a "play between signs." This view is also opposed to the idea of rational enlightenment and scientific conformity.

Constructive views of postmodernism are also considered in terms of the way that postmodern is seen to have done away with the master narratives of political, economic and social and cultural hegemonies. This also refers to the "liberation" of cultural and political groups in terms of the perspective and ethos of postmodernism.

Under this section, the article discusses views of postmodernism that see this ethos as providing the groundwork for a change from the perceived modernist failing of aspects in culture, such as patriarchy, anthropocentricism and economic vandalism.

These assessments also refer to new cultural and social forms, such as the changing concept of the family and alternative lifestyles. In theoretical terms, these changes and formation of new concepts of relative reality challenge the norms and values that were projected by the Enlightenment.

Questions

1. What is discipline? And what does it do to bodies?

Discipline in the context of postmodernism refers to the constraints that are created by meta or master narratives. In other words, a discipline like Sociology comprises a set of norms, values and assumptions that create a body of knowledge that conforms to certain principles and to a certain mindset. The affect of this is to constrain or to train bodies to think or perceive in certain ways.