Postmodern Musings

I must say I do enjoy conversations on postmodernism (readings on it, not as much). It's a delightfully mirky topic, forcing people to question their comfortable ideology...their complacency. Our discussion in class yesterday recalled to mind a class I took while working toward my previous psychology degree - History & Systems of Psychology. On one particular day of class, we got to talking about premodernism, modernism and postmodernism. It was interesting to see how many people in my cohort seemed to be operating in large part from a modernist framework...especially in psychology, which - on many levels - seeks to invoke and involve a much more postmodern perception of people and the world we live in. Of course, I must admit, there remains a very influential "culture" of science in psychology (and rightly so, I feel) which does necessarily look toward the modernist scientific method for greater understanding about human nature and the human condition.

But back to History & Systems...the conversation really turned into a dialog between myself and one other classmate, observed by the rest. It stemmed from what I saw as a misrepresentation of the postmodern position (namely, that it very simply is a movement of pure relativism, where there can be no tolerance for a belief in any absolutes or truths). I spoke up to offer my perspective that postmodernism allows for a person to decide to believe in some absolutes, but wards against that person feeling justified in believing that decision to be one ALL must make. Of course, the conversation continued from there, but the most poignant exchange - in my opinion - was when my classmate began expressing greater and greater frustration, remarking that, "You just can't argue with people like you, you're always right because there's no truth!" I was somewhat taken aback my the statement (though it's not an unfamiliar sentiment) and as I said to him, "It's interesting that you consider this an argument. For me, this is a conversation."

I do think postmodernism is a conversation, it's about dialoging, finding common ground, common understanding, but realizing that it is all historically-, culturally-, individually-bound. It's about the process, not the end point.

Anyway, I don't need to try to replicate the ENTIRE conversation here, but like I said at the beginning, I enjoy encountering postmodernism. Even when it's being discussed from a modern framework, it's still about people trying to step outside themselves and consider reality beyond their comfort zone.

And as I mentioned in an earlier post, I'm somewhat surprised to discover just how much the art community is engaging in this (what seems to me very cerebral) dialog...though I guess I must concede that postmodernism is so largely about EXPERIENCING the "real," about connecting on more than a cognitive level with the world around, and artists (I'd say) DO have a knack for engaging with their environments on a much more profound, more visceral, more experiential level. Something I look forward to developing further for myself.