Postmodernism

Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourse defined by an attitude of skepticism toward what it considers as the grand narratives of modernism, an opposition to epistemic certainty in addition to the stability of meaning, in addition to a doubtful perspective towards the proceeds of ideology in changing social systems. Claims to objective fact are dismissed as naive realism. the postmodern outlook and its aesthetic influences are characterized by self-referentiality, epistemological relativism, moral relativism, pluralism, irony, irreverence, and eclecticism; it rejects the "universal validity" of binary oppositions,identity, hierarchy, and categorization. Postmodernism is sometimes considered the ideological and artistic reflection, or anti-ideological ideology, of the socioeconomic array of postmodernity.

Postmodernism developed in the mid-twentieth century as a rejection of modernism and has been observed across numerous disciplines. Postmodernism is associated with deconstructionism and post-structuralism. Various authors construct criticized postmodernism as promoting obscurantism, as abandoning Enlightenment rationalism and scientific rigor, and as adding nothing to analytical or empirical knowledge.

Definition

Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourse which challenges worldviews associated with Enlightenment rationality dating back to the 17th century. Postmodernism is associated with relativism and a focus on ideology in the maintenance of economic and political power. Postmodernists are "skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races, and instead focuses on the relative truths of each person". It considers "reality" to be a mental construct. Postmodernism rejects the opportunity of unmediated reality or objectively-rational knowledge, asserting that any interpretations are contingent on the perspective from which they are made; claims to objective fact are dismissed as naive realism.

Postmodern thinkers frequently describe knowledge claims and value systems as contingent or socially-conditioned, describing them as products of political, historical, or cultural discourses and hierarchies. Accordingly, postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to self-referentiality, epistemological and moral relativism, pluralism, and irreverence. Postmodernism is often associated with schools of thought such(a) as deconstruction and post-structuralism. Postmodernism relies on critical theory, which considers the effects of ideology, society, and history on culture. Postmodernism and critical theory normally criticize universalist ideas of objective reality, morality, truth, human nature, reason, language, and social progress.

Initially, postmodernism was a mode of discourse on literature and literary criticism, commenting on the generation of literary text, meaning, author and reader, writing, and reading. Postmodernism developed in the mid- to late-twentieth century across many scholarly disciplines as a departure or rejection of modernism. As a critical practice, postmodernism employs image such as hyperreality, simulacrum, trace, and difference, and rejects summary principles in favor of direct experience.