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The Postmodern

The document discusses several key concepts of postmodernism, including: 1) Self-reflexivity, where postmodern thinkers take reflexivity to an extreme by bridging high and low cultures. 2) Deconstruction, influenced by philosophers like Derrida, which aims to reveal what an author does not see in their own text through close reading. 3) Hegemony, referring to leadership and domination, particularly the concept developed by Gramsci of ruling classes gaining consent from subordinate classes for their own domination. 4) The relationship between those who control the means of production and the dominant ideas of an era.

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68 views

The Postmodern

The document discusses several key concepts of postmodernism, including: 1) Self-reflexivity, where postmodern thinkers take reflexivity to an extreme by bridging high and low cultures. 2) Deconstruction, influenced by philosophers like Derrida, which aims to reveal what an author does not see in their own text through close reading. 3) Hegemony, referring to leadership and domination, particularly the concept developed by Gramsci of ruling classes gaining consent from subordinate classes for their own domination. 4) The relationship between those who control the means of production and the dominant ideas of an era.

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lain_lazaro1976
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POSMODERNISM

Principal Concepts

It has been acknowledged in the beginning that the terms and concepts of post modernism

are hard to define. Nevertheless, this part of the paper shall look at the general concepts of the

period, of what, when the term post modern or Po-Mo is mentioned comes to one’s mind. Hassan

(2001) mentions in an encyclical, Pope John Paul II used the word in reference to “extreme

relativism in values and beliefs,” including irony and skepticism in reason, and the denial of

truth. Hassan summarizes in saying that what Po-Mo’s description from various perspectives

have in common are the following: parody, pastiche, play, relativism, fragments, and concepts

akin to these.

One of the principal concepts of post modern is self-reflexivity. While modern thinkers

have done this as well, as in the case of Immanuel Kant’s “What is Enlightenment?” Post

moderns seem to take self-reflexivity into extreme. Theirs is done in a manner more playful than

the moderns. (Felluga, 2003) While reflexivity in the modern could be found in high-art, such

that of Picasso’s painting, post modern reflexivity bridges the gap between “high and low”

cultures. In relation, this removal of gap between the high and low culture is evident in

architecture, for instance when one tries to juxtapose in the same room things that are baroque,

rococo or modern (2003). An additional principal concept of the post modern is deconstruction.

This is often related to the philosopher Jacques Derrida who is largely influenced by the seminal

thinker Martin Heidegger. Deconstruction in literary criticism is a way to approach a text. It is

not aimed in “tearing down,” rather this close reading aims to bring out what the author does not

see in his writings.


Another important terminology in the post modern is hegemony, which is said to have

acquired its Marxist character from the late 1890s through the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917.

Borrowed from Lenin, this hegemony refers to the leadership exercised by the proletariat over

the other exploited classes. (Mastroianni, 2002) Before that, hegemony simply borrows from the

Greek “egemonia,” which means ruler of a state other than one’s own.

Antonio Gramsci’s, an activist and political thinker, "hegemony" point to a process of

moral and intellectual leadership in which the dominated or subordinate classes of post-1870

industrial Western European nations “consent to their own domination by ruling classes, as

opposed to being simply forced or coerced into accepting inferior position.” (Mastroianni, 2002)

While Mastroianni added that Gramsci was careful in sounding Marxist in his writings as these

are reviewed by fascists, this concept of hegemony is itself related to the concept of base and

superstructure, wherein those who hold the tools or machineries necessary for production are

also the same group of people who holds the ideas of an epoch.

This could be demonstrated when one goes back to the five epochs of Marx: the ancient

communalism, primitive slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and finally communism. Those who are

the primitive masters are the same masters not only in economy, but also when it comes to

thinking, arts, culture or philosophy. By leaving the manual work to the slaves, they are free to

think and study. Up to this date, it is still the same for the few capitalists in the world, and those

who hold the mass media tool are the same persons who are capable of choosing which

knowledge should be disseminated to the masses.

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