Comparing Modernity to Post-Modernity:
Modernity:
a meta-narrative or paradigm of rationality, signs, technology, linear progress
a grand narrative of human progress
focus is on PROGRESS
Darwinian influence- we are evolving
Marx was a social Darwinist
Post-Modernity:
instead of a grand history, speak of small history (Michel Foucault)
much ambiguity- not sure if it is a fad or a meta-theory
we see history as a series of movements where people jump on the bandwagon
this can become a totalitarian system, which we should avoid
the world is driven by meta-narratives: we need to deconstruct these and step out of the paradigms
Nietzche: the father of Post-Modernism
said 'God is Dead' - we invented God - and we need to drop religion and think for ourselves
spoke of Zarathustra - a superhuman with no prejudices, full of power and reason (this lead to Fascism and Nazism)
Heidegger: language is the house of being (we objectify our world with language)
Michel Foucault: anti-meta-narrative, focus on knowledge and power
Mark Poster: focus on MODE of information
Conclusion:
Has Modernity ended?
Multiculturalism is evident
Truth is relative
Post-Modernists are very skeptical- a form of resistance to the power structures