Knowledge Is The Enemy Of Postmodernism Essay

, Research Paper

Michael Drach December 8

Philosophy Research Essay

Society currently exists within a sphere of “reality” that can be classified as post-modern, or superseding the modern. This is a social condition that has come under much scrutiny and criticism in recent years, and its very being has been the subject of a great deal of debate. It is a very difficult concept to understand and classify, due to its endless interpretations. However, there is a somewhat general consensus that is considerably easier to agree on. As Dick Hebdige pointed out in the mid-1980’s, the term “postmodern” now applies to just about everything we take for granted in society. It can refer to things as specific as the decor of a room, or to the broad societal and economic shifts in the media. Postmodernism can be defined, in the sense that this essay will focus upon, as an evolution of modernism, in art, science, and philosophy. It is opposed to the Enlightenment, the period beginning with the Renaissance, and ending with the modernism of the early twentieth century. According to Jean-Francois Lyotard, postmodernism is classified as “incredulity towards metanarratives.” (Jameson 124)

The “Grand Narratives,” as they are also called, with their emphasis on artistic genius, reason, virility, and individuality, were the brainchildren of thinkers such as Marx, Freud, Kant, and Bacon. In the postmodern world, their ideas are met with scepticism and extreme criticism, and replaced by a general preference for eclecticism, anti-historicity, cynicism, hyperreality, political correctness, reproducibility, and “zero-consciousness.” Postmodernism is marked by an ironic, apocalyptic stance that either predicts the End of an era, or the impossibility of an End. While there are many different facets of postmodernism that can be looked at, the pressing question is whether this condition has an antidote. The answer, of course, depends on whether one extols this situation or not. This essay intends to prove that the extent in which our society is postmodern is limited by sporadic changes in the human understanding of how our culture functions. Therefore, knowledge must be considered the enemy of postmodernism. Knowledge is a powerful, inevitable force that has stood the test of time, and when pitted against the deceptiveness of postmodernism, could prevail. The widespread awareness of the postmodern condition and its symptoms could lead to its non-existence, theoretically. Furthermore, knowledge and ingenuity can lead to visions and ideas for the future, which are lacking in (post)modern philosophy. Finally, since postmodernism sets itself against Enlightenment, the opposite stance must therefore be essential in defeating it.

A general public awareness, or rudimentary knowledge of the postmodern situation could lead to its discontinuity. Therefore, the first step is recognizing its existence. As Linda Hutcheon asserted, postmodernism’s existence can be proven merely by the existing literature written about it. The problem we face, is that many contemporary intellectuals simply review the topic without changing our conceptualization of it. Several stances have been taken on it, but society as a whole will need tolerance, solidarity, imagination, and consciousness if we are to deal with the new diversity of postmodernism. (Hutcheon 8)

Postmodernism, according to Baudrillard, is inherently deceptive. It is a societal condition in which the public cannot see the illusion for what it is, and we trick ourselves into thinking that there will be an “end” to it. If this is true, then postmodernism as a sociological phenomenon does not appear or disappear by itself, but is rather something conceived by the people, and yet we are not aware of the “monster” we have created. It stands to reason that as a society we should come to our senses and eventually emerge from the shadow of postmodernism by knowing our enemy, if we wish to see it that way. As Adorno said, “the opposite of knowledge is not ignorance, it is deceit and fraud.” We may know something of how contemporary culture and society work, but when we are faced with hyper-real trickery, we need a more active form of knowledge. Adorno also stated that “knowledge knows no boundaries”, and that its very nature is to combat deceit. The postmodern philosophers that Hutcheon studied were not “wrong” in trying to understand the topic, but she is calling for a new breed of thinkers to come up with solutions rather than propagate the status quo.

Baudrillard once suggested that the youth of today should turn their backs on the mass media that promotes this condition. He believed, for instance, that the Gulf War did not actually occur, and that it only existed with the help of CNN and its sponsors. He claims that a televised war prevents us from having to face the reality of a real one. Mark Poster also believed that media- literacy can only take us so far in an age of “surveillance culture,” and that actually ignoring the media will help us understand the truth. If ignorance is not the opposite of knowledge, we would not be less educated if we disregard the media, that saturates us with false promises of salvation. We cannot forget that postmodernism exists once we begin to recognize it, but we must move on, and work even faster than a culture that constantly accelerates. We must recall the past and look towards the future, an