Lyotard

The Postmodern Condition

Incredulity towards Meta-narratives

Narrative losing Function

Heterogeneity of science

Modernism legitimates power with knowledge and reality

Reality and truth, however are contextual

Lyotard

Heterogeneity evidenced by language games

Legitimation as modern language game

Concept of discourse

Postmodern discourse delegitimates

No one speaks all the languages so discourse must be local

Lyotard

We thus cannot have universal knowledge and must resort to the local and the diverse to make sense of our own worlds

Science itself is not value free so the Enlightenment idea cannot ever come true

Functionalism and paradigms are “terrorist” techniques of domination

Lyotard

To reach common truth—consensus– requires that discourse assume the result

Computerization of society is a perfect example of postmodern principles

Baudrillard

A sociologist by training

Radical

Began as a Marxist

Rejected Marxism by saying that economic exchange in the contemporary world is replaced by symbolic exchange

Gift and countergift

Baudrillard

Symbolic exchange is a political process led by the New Left not the proletariatModern society dominated by Media, cybernetics, information and knowledge industries not product productionAn explosion of signs, that used to stand for real objects, now have imploded and stand for nothing

Baudrillard

The distinction between sign and object has imploded—simulation

Reproduction of simulations are simulacra

Real has become the hyper-real

No reality exists

Baudrillard

The masses are a black hole that sucks up information and images—absorbs all meaning, information, and communication—thus rendering them meaningless

Binary society—death versus life

Death = discrimination

Jameson

Postmodernism is an outgrowth of modernism—continuities exist

Late capitalism has spawned a new cultural logic called postmodernism

Three stages of capitalism—market,imperial and late(service)

Liberation and exploitation

Jameson

Four elements of postmodern culture

Lack of depth

Waning of emotion

Loss of historicity—Pastiche not story

Reproductive technologies not productive—TV not widgets

Harvey

Postmodernism is a new way of viewing, using time and spaceConcern for difference and marginalsDetail not consensusNot permanent institutions but temporary contractsMimes social, economic and political practices to “see” inequality

Harvey

Aim is to overcome the ills of modernist societyBUT modernism organizes—builds spaceModernism proceeds –is not chaoticPostmodernism divides, is nihilistic, lacks coherencePostmodern sees voices open up but denies their validity

Harvey

Modern ideas are thesis to postmoderns’ anti-thesis

See chart on page 181 of article

Postmodernism has organizing principles that are positive-- flexibility, creativity,charisma and a commitment to being and place

Harvey

Really a synthesis of the dialectic of the modern world

Creative predictability

Improvisation based on experience\

Postmodernism makes the novel predictable