The Concept of Knowledge in Postmodernism

8/13/2019 The Concept of Knowledge in Postmodernism

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The Concept of Knowledge inPostmodernism


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The concept of knowledge and its definition havebeen changed through centuries. In Ancient

Greece one of prominent philosophers Platoforms the idea of knowledge. He stats that it is`justified true belief`. In the Middle Ages theologybecomes a term reserved for knowledge.Intelectual life is marked by scolasticism, aphilosophy which emphasized joining faith toreason. The time of Rennaisance significantchanges are observed, philosophy and theologyget separated. This is the beginning of the

scientific method. Misconceptions still abound ,but through observation, experimentation andstudy, new theories emerge.


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Age of Enlightment follows The Rennaisance,

and is often thought of as a part of a larger

period, which includes the Age of Reason. This

period advocates rationality as a means to

establish an authoritive system of ethics,

aethetics and knowledge. The rise ofempirical, philosophical ideas and their

application to political economy, government

and sciences such as physics, chemistry andbiology.


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The paradigm of Enlightment is criticized by the thinkers

of modernism. The year 1900 ushers a new era that

changes the way that reality is perceived and portrayed.Years later this revolutionary new period would come to

be known as modernism and would forever be defined

as a time when artists and thinkers rebelled

against every conceivable doctrine that waswidely accepted by the Establishment, whether

in the arts, science, medicine, philosophy, etc.


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The world has been changed by all of the new

discoveries, inventions and technological achievements

that were being thrust on civilization: electricity, thecombustion engine, the incandescent light bulb, the

automobile, the airplane, radio, X-rays, fertilizers and

so forth. These innovations revolutionized the world in

two distinct ways. For one, they created an optimisticaura of a worldly paradise, of a new technology that

was to reshape man into moral perfection. In other

words, technology became a new religious cult that

held the key to a new utopian dream that wouldtransform the very nature of man.


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A reaction against the philosophical assumptions,

values, and intellectual worldview of the modern

period of Western has been transformed into themovement called Postmodernism. Postmodernism

remains notoriously difficult to define, because it is still

in the process of `becoming`. It suggets a perceptible

change from the modern, industrial age towards apostmodern era dominated by electronic technologies

and information services. Postmodernism challenges

the canons of scientific rationality. Postmodernism

together with Theory of Knowledge share an insistence

upon `polyphony` recognition of multiple voices and

conceptions that shape the contemporary world.


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As critical examinations of knowledge, they

question the foundation of many self-evident

truths. Desciplinary boundaries are blurring

and new interdisciplinary, hybrid knowledges

such as feminism, urban studies, cultural

studies are moving into the centre of thehumman studies. Postmodernism becomes a

cultural terrain in which knowledge becomes

knowledges, identities are understood asfracture and plural.


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The Consequences of Postmodernism

The problem with Postmodernism is that it leaves us

without absolute foundations for determining absolute

truths about how we should think and live wisely on

earth. We can imagine pretty much anything as being

true (human imagination is endless) which is how our

world is (and has been for thousands of years).

This freedom to imagine anything as 'relative truth' is

another significant reason why postmodernism has

been universally embraced. Every culture, religion and

diverse group on the planet can claim that their truths

are just as valid as anyone else's.


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This has led to the concept of 'tolerance'. That we must

accept with equal validity the truths of Darwinian

evolution with the truths of 'Adam and Eve' and thecreation of our world in 7 days!

While this may liberating, it unfortunately offers little

guidance and does not abide by the fact that humans

are constructed of matter, interact with all other

matter in the universe and have evolved certain

genetic traits as part of their evolutionary ancestry.

Thus there are certain absolute truths that humans (allthings) must abide by if they are to live by the truth

and the wisdom this attains.


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Thank You for Your Attention

Documents

The Concept of Knowledge in Postmodernism