Power of Suggestion

We’ve been talking about postmodernism in one of my classes, and it’s sparked quite a bit of thought lately. I may  (or may not, who knows) be focusing on it this week.

Jacques Derrida, aka Ralph Lauren's sexier older brother - Early don of postmodern thought

“Postmodern” is becoming the “Attica” of an entire generation. Rather than a statement about excessive police force, it is the cry of a generation that feels it has been oppressed by the assumptions and worldview of its forebears. The language of postmodernism is ubiquitous, but it’s incredibly difficult to explain what, exactly, it is.

One of the major problems is the “Observer Effect” or “Hawthorne Effect”: The act of observing and event or phenomenon changes it. Contemporary Western society has a strong awareness of its intellectual traditions stemming from relatively Eastern roots in Greece. We understand the differences in epistemology and metaphysics that separate classical, medieval, Renaissance, Enlightenment, liberal, and postliberal thinking. We have dissected and explained where and when they started, how they developed, and, more or less, pinpointed where we stand today. As a result of all that study, we are painfully aware of the shift that is occurring, and we are paying it its due attention.

But as observers of the phenomenon of postmodernism, we are changing it’s nature. The philosophical debates of the past seemed to focus on which concepts were right and better; the questions were asked and answered with the purpose of improving human thought and communication. But the conversations on postmodernism seem to be mainly focused on defining “postmodernism”. They are conversations in which you’ll hear the phrase, “That’s not postmodern thinking!” It seems that many people think that postmodernism is something already fully developed (of course it is, it has a name, doesn’t it?), and if they can name it, they can automatically jump to the better life that it promises.

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