Unfortunately, there seems to be no such thing as Postmodernism: The Good Bits.
(If you order a big sundae and discover that the top scoop is dog shit, it makes more sense to go buy your own ice cream and make your own sundae—even knowing you’re reinventing many pieces of the original sundae—than settling for the original sundae and trying to carefully spoon around the shit.)
Probably not one that’s very useful. If you think of it as an artistically-related metatheory construction kit (so, a meta-meta-theory), that would probably describe what the bits that aren’t shit are useful for. Gwern (per comment parallel to yours) probably wouldn’t benefit, having deep cultural knowledge in at least one area, though he might find useful bits to avoid having to reinvent terminology.
(Oh, and it’s not one thing—any area that has something that corresponds to a “modernist” outlook, where progress can occur, is likely to spawn a “postmodernism” which involves questioning every assumption including that the right questions are being asked. Remember that it sprang up after World War II, which was seen by the postmodernists as the horrific reductio ad absurdum failure of several decades-long modernist programmes.)
What I mean is that dismissing this icky squishy cultural “what is meaning?” stuff as a diseased discipline does not somehow mean you, as a bounded human intellect in the world, are immune to the problems the toolkit-constructing toolkit in question can somewhat alleviate. Because the proper study of mankind is man. Squishy and infuriating as humanity is, directed cyclic graphs of preferences and all.
FWIW, don’t read original Derrida unless the wall opposite needs a few more dents in it—stick to commentaries.
I challenge anybody to come up with a higher-density description of postmodernism than ‘Fallacy Of Gray Plus Meta Everything with Leftism’. Remember that it arose out of an enviroment that was far too absolutist and ignored meta-analysis.
Analytic approaches to continental concerns are routinely insightful. The problem with post-modernism is language and methodology more than the subjects and theses. But it’s so big a problem than any analytic approach is almost inevitably the best thing written on the subject.
Those who dismiss postmodernism are condemned to reinvent it, one piece at a time.
Unfortunately, there seems to be no such thing as Postmodernism: The Good Bits.
(If you order a big sundae and discover that the top scoop is dog shit, it makes more sense to go buy your own ice cream and make your own sundae—even knowing you’re reinventing many pieces of the original sundae—than settling for the original sundae and trying to carefully spoon around the shit.)
Speaking as a fan of the stuff, I fully appreciate and frequently concur with your reasons for not wanting to touch it.
Postmodernism or dogshit? ;)
Can you give a summary of postmodernism or should I just google it myself?
Probably not one that’s very useful. If you think of it as an artistically-related metatheory construction kit (so, a meta-meta-theory), that would probably describe what the bits that aren’t shit are useful for. Gwern (per comment parallel to yours) probably wouldn’t benefit, having deep cultural knowledge in at least one area, though he might find useful bits to avoid having to reinvent terminology.
(Oh, and it’s not one thing—any area that has something that corresponds to a “modernist” outlook, where progress can occur, is likely to spawn a “postmodernism” which involves questioning every assumption including that the right questions are being asked. Remember that it sprang up after World War II, which was seen by the postmodernists as the horrific reductio ad absurdum failure of several decades-long modernist programmes.)
What I mean is that dismissing this icky squishy cultural “what is meaning?” stuff as a diseased discipline does not somehow mean you, as a bounded human intellect in the world, are immune to the problems the toolkit-constructing toolkit in question can somewhat alleviate. Because the proper study of mankind is man. Squishy and infuriating as humanity is, directed cyclic graphs of preferences and all.
FWIW, don’t read original Derrida unless the wall opposite needs a few more dents in it—stick to commentaries.
I challenge anybody to come up with a higher-density description of postmodernism than ‘Fallacy Of Gray Plus Meta Everything with Leftism’. Remember that it arose out of an enviroment that was far too absolutist and ignored meta-analysis.
Analytic approaches to continental concerns are routinely insightful. The problem with post-modernism is language and methodology more than the subjects and theses. But it’s so big a problem than any analytic approach is almost inevitably the best thing written on the subject.
Those who dismiss the dangers of mountaineering are condemned to fall off mountains, one cliff at a time.
To borrow gwern’s comment, there is no such thing as Falling Off Mountains: The Good Bits.