[Neurons] 2021 Neurons #43 THE BAD IDEA OF POST-MODERNISM

[Michael Hall]

From: L. Michael Hall

2021 Neurons #43

July 16, 2021

How Self-Actualization 

Can Save Politics #6

 

THE BAD IDEA OF POST-MODERNISM

 

I ended the last article asserting that postmodernism is a really terrible
idea.  Now I want to explain why and how it is not only a bad idea for
politics, it is actually a disastrous idea.  To accomplish that I will need
to define both modernism and post-modernism.

 

Modernism describes the modern age of science from the seventeenth century
to the twentieth century.  This idea was based on the belief that there is
an objective reality.  Starting from that premise, the brilliant thinkers of
that age began researching and studying to be able to make a map of that
territory.  From that came the development of science as a methodology for
engaging with an object or an experience, defining what it is, determining
how it works, and then determining the validity of the mental maps that we
make about it.  In this way, Newton's laws of physics were discovered, the
elements of the periodic chart, the foundation of chemistry, the anatomy of
the human body, and on and on.

 

Modernism brought about developments in engineering and construction, it
gave us the foundational principles for democracy and self-government of a
people by themselves, it led to discoveries of electricity, cars,
electronics, computers, and all of the things that we take for granted today
that comprises and that advances civilization.

 

Then certain philosophers in Europe (Foucault, Derrida, etc.) began
questioning all of this.  First they questioned whether any human truth
could provide an objective representation of reality.  With this doubt, they
eventually concluded that all truth claims are actually cultural constructs
and therefore unreliable and science is not a better way to produce
knowledge.   Post-modernism's reaction to modernity,

"... the profound cultural transformation which saw the rise of
representative democracy, the age of science, the supersedence of reason
over superstition, and the establishment of individual liberties to live
according to one's values." (Pluckrose and Lindsay, 2021, p. 22)

 

Here they took a grain of truth and exaggerated it into a corrosive cynicism
about objective knowledge, science, and truth.  Yes, a great deal of our
knowledge is cultural and culturally defined.  Much of it is thoroughly
contaminated by built-in biases.  But just because the maps we make are not
the same thing as the territory does not mean there's no territory.  If you
don't believe in external reality and if you think it is all a social
construct, jump off a ten-story building.  You will quickly discover that in
spite of whatever culturally informed ideas you have, gravity will have the
last word.

 

It is only true in a banal sense that a lot of our knowledge is socially
constructed.  Yes, the maps we make are made by fallible human beings.  And
human beings are social beings who are consciously and unconsciously
significantly influenced by their cultures.  Yet that does not mean that
some maps are more valid, useful, and effective than others.  Nor does it
mean that once a map is created, it cannot be improved, updated, upgraded,
refined, etc.  That's what science is designed to help us do- to keep
testing and improving what we know so that it becomes increasingly valid and
reliable.

 

But post-modernism gave this up and then, taking skepticism as their creed,
took things to a whole new level until it became cynicism.  This was the
problem with post-modernism from the 1960s to the 1990s.  It created a
nihilistic despair.  If there's no objective reality, if all is a social
construct, if it is all relative, then what does it all mean?  What is
meaningful?  And if it is all meaningless, what's the point of living?

 

Post-modernism attacked reason, science, and rationality as the "Western way
of thinking," suggesting that rigorous, evidence-based research belongs to
the West and does not apply to the East.  It accused the Wet of "colonizing"
indigenous people and Eastern countries, disadvantaging other forms of
knowledge.  But that's over-simplified and polarized presentation.  Further
it demeans anyone not from the West as irrational and superstitious.

 

Later, post-modernism had a rebirth in the 1990s.  Activists took the ideas
(e.g., there is no objective reality, it is all a cultural construct, it has
been the West's way to subjugate people, it's the group that counts, not the
individual, etc.) to create their current revolution.  By putting their
focus on power rather than truth ("it's all about power"), post-modernists
invented "identity politics" as a way to take control.  For them, the group
you belong to defines who you are, what you think, how you vote, how you are
victimized, etc.  All of this became tools in the service of gaining power.
But identity politics is not the answer.  Historically it has led to
tribalism, revenge, racism, wars, genocide, totalitarian governments, etc. 

 

This lead to Critical Theory and its many forms: critical race theory, queer
theory (which ignores biology and makes sex, gender and sexuality news forms
of oppression), post-colonial theory, etc.  Since language governs the maps
(mental models) that we make and since "knowledge" is considered to be
totally a social construct, post-modernists sought to gain power by
controlling and changing the language.  We see this in the demand that
people use only approved and prescribed pronouns and other expressions.
This eliminates freedom of expression.  "Racism" no longer is prejudice or
hatred in one's heart against other people, it is a "unconscious system"
that you can't see.  It is always there even if you can't detect it, and
cannot be eliminated.  If you disagree, that proves you are racist.  If you
disagree, you have committed "epistemic violence" against them.

 

These post-modern ideas teach people to assume there is racism, prejudice,
victimization, colonization, etc. all around them and victimizing them.  It
teaches them to be angry, upset, and ready to cancel or even overthrow
society.  As a result, post-modernism has become highly intolerant and an
authoritarian ideology.  The only social justice to be had is not equality,
but equity.  Merely offer equal opportunity to all people is not enough.
People must have equity- made equal in money, possessions, positions, etc.
If you disagree, you should be censored.  Disagreeing makes others feel
inadequate and victimized, so it must be eliminated or you must be
eliminated.

 

Unlike modernism and liberalism which is self-correcting as it welcomes
fierce debate and testing the validity of things, post-modernism refuses
opposing views.  This makes it especially closed-minded and rigid.  It
refuses freedom of debate and post-modernist universities cancel
conservative speakers from their campuses.

 

Now how many really terrible ideas does post-modernism involve?  A lot!  So
what's the solution to all of these really bad ideas?  Open conversation and
debate so that in the marketplace of ideas- the best ideas will eventually
win out.  Truth is not afraid of free expression or even conflict of
different ideas- it welcomes it so that we can have a more complete
perspective of any given subject.

 

What is stultifying and victimizing is censorship.  To separate people
between those who are so-called "woke" and those who are not is just another
form of prejudice and name-calling.  It is also quite arrogant and
presumptuous.   While the truths we know and the knowledge we have attained
is still influenced by culture and language and always will be - there is a
larger truth.  Namely, we are all human beings first and human from a
particular society second.  We have more in common than what divides us.
Because of that, we can save politics if we have a mind to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

L. Michael Hall, Ph.D.

Executive Director, Neuro-Semantics

P.O. Box 8

Clifton CO. 81520 USA

www.neurosemantics.com 

 

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Humor is a meta-perspective about incongruity, exaggeration, playfulness,
and even absurdity.

For a touch of humor --- see the new book --- HUMOROUS THINKING  (2020)

 

 



 

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