by Chris Alexion, Copyright March 01, 2006, all rights reserved. 314 views
We're often told that modernism is a philosophy whose time has come–and gone. Gone are the men who sallied forth like ancient knights to topple the claims of religious dogma. Gone are the absolute scientific laws, the buoyant certainties, the proud universals. Postmodernism is here, according to the story, and little has been left untouched by its ravages. As for modernity, Luther's words on another subject sum up the situation: "Stripped of pow'r, no more it reigns, and naught but empty form remains."
Nevertheless, this empty form often gets rowdy, as I've repeatedly pointed out on this site. The pages of Time still brim with assertions of neutral scientific methodology and self-interpreting facts. We still hear of secure borders between faith and education that no illegal immigrant must be allowed to tunnel under. If postmodernism really does dominate the intellectual elite, it still has a ways to trickle down.
But Doug Wilson suggested something recently that got me thinking. In Wilson's view, postmodernism isn't "post" at all. For starters, Wilson points to the hubris of naming a movement "post-" anything that is still getting off the ground. Unless we know the future, "postmodernism" may just be a particularly nasty mood swing of the Enlightenment pit bull. It's like placing 2006 in the Pre-Jamaican-Empire period. We just don't know.
I'm not sure Wilson's right (debates on postmodernism have a way of getting complex just as you get the nail gun on the Jell-O), but his comments are definitely thought-provoking. It may well be that postmodernism is a lot less post- and a lot more modern.
Instead of a new creation, postmodernism might only be modernity's latest perm–a style that looks great from behind but sits on the same ugly face.
1 • Shawn • March 02, 2006 • 8:40 AM
You are so right! I can't remember exactly which columnist I was reading, but his solution to teenage pregnancy was better sex education and contraceptives. When will they learn that information alone never changed anyone?
2 • Chris Yokel • March 02, 2006 • 11:59 PM
"just as you get the nail gun on the Jello". Brilliant man. Simply brilliant.
3 • Chris • December 18, 2006 • 1:56 PM
Thanks, Keith, for the kind words. The words are mine, but Wilson and others have started me thinking about how "post" postmodernism really is.
I checked out your site, too. Looks pretty cool.
——-