Postmodernity as the Climax of Modernity: Horizons of the Cultural Future
ABSTRACT: Given that any society is endowed not only with a set of institutions but also with the particular pattern of self-reflection and self-description, postmodernity should be viewed as an epoch representing the climax of modernity and its self-refutation. Parting with traditional society, modernity represents the triumph of power-knowledge, the divorce between spheres of culture, the global social relations, the new institutions, the change in the understanding of space-time relations, the cult of the new, and the modernization process. While preserving the institutional set of modernity, the postmodern period casts into doubt the basic thought
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To understand the contemporary cultural situation means to penetrate in the spectrum of similarities and differences arising from its comparison with the classical stage of modernity. The new age started with a radical break with the traditional society and its cultural stereotypes. Reverence before the past and tradition, accepted symbols and the established order of things sanctioned by myth and religion constitutes the image of traditional society. On the contrary, critical reflection becomes the main force of development of modernity: all forms of social practice are reconsidered in the light of reason that should give a definite evaluation of their effectiveness / Habermas 1989: 27/. The triumph of formal rationality and calculative approach to the universe desacralizes the world and leads to the disappearance of naive symbolism . As a result, science allied with technology is considered as the main tool of comrehension and conquest of the world. In contrast to medieval period, modernity generates a total divorce of the spheres of Truth, Beauty , and Good. Philosophers of this period proposed different versions of their relations in the epoch when scientific images of the world pretended to be accepted as universal thus revealing their power function.
Relying on the ideas of M. Weber, F.
The writer gives three specific aspects of the “Legacy of the Scientific Revolution” which stem from the ideas of absolutism. The first part of the legacy is “the increasing presence of an attitude of mechanization toward the processes of nature” which is how machinery is applied to nature to help understand it better. This was done in many ways, one example is the invention of the first telescopes. In Holland lenses of different shapes were combined by eyeglass makers to see the sky more detailed than the naked eye could see (Lewis 359). The second phrase of the legacy is “an increasing attitude of mechanization toward the creation of knowledge, enshrining the process of rationalism and empiricism that would become the hallmarks of modern
Where Modernism is characterized by disillusionment and cynicism, Postmodernism turns to satiric critiques. Satire is a genre of literature that ridicules human follies in the hopes of improving society. “In our postmodern culture which is TV dominated, image sensitive, and morally vacuous, personality is everything and character is increasingly irrelevant” (Wells). We have managed to push aside the important qualities and instead only lay focus to the materialistic and unnecessary requirements in the world. In postmodernism disintegration of barriers is key.“This isn’t life, it’s just stuff. And it’s become more important to you then living…”(American Beauty). Our society is built upon the desire to accumulate, if not even to please oneself but to make others covet. The obsession people have with obtaining materialistic goods in the hopes to make themselves happy is a dark path which many fall down. It ultimately results in the downfall of society and the loss of traditional values and humane morals. The post modernistic world is one that can’t be avoided, but also doesn’t have to consume everything humans have cherished for so long. The world I currently live in is not one I choose to want to live
In sociological theory there are many concepts discussed that are utilized in the analyses of society and culture. Some of the main concepts are Postmodernism, Historical Materialism, Structuralism, Interpretive Sociology and Poststructuralism to name a few. These theories are relevant to the research of understanding certain or specific cultural texts. These concepts provide problems and solutions associated with some of the research approaches fore-mentioned. Analysing the main dimensions will be covered by discussing the appropriate concepts separately and by individually contrasting the classical and modern theories with Quentin
The term physician/Hospital alignment model define as the “state of agreement and cooperation between hospital systems and physicians to achieve better, cheaper and effective healthcare system. In other words hospitals and physicians must work together to provide an agreeable solutions to the healthcare problems. This kind of alignment sounds really good from the patient perspective. Over the past 30 years, relationships between hospitals and physicians have evolved from the physician as customer to the physician as potential competitor. As health care moves into a “patient-centric” era, both the physician and the hospital must align to provide service to the patient-customer.
A weakness of postmodernism, its central one according to critics, lies in its refusal to point out an alternative path for social life. Postmodernists assert that all aspects of social life are subject to the same dynamics so as such, there is
The weather in a story is vital to setting the atmosphere for a specific scene. The changes
Also postmodern society involves the growth of consumerism and especially the idea that we now construct our identities
There is a confluence of factors that is related to providing adequate health care on a systemic basis within virtually any population setting. While attempting to address the health care needs of such a setting is always a challenge, this challenge becomes exacerbated by varieties in social and economic conditions, as well as those that apply to race and ethnicity. The problems that plague contemporary health care coverage in the United States are myriad and even more complicated by the fact that many of these issues are interrelated. Three of the most salient of these difficulties concern health care coverage, health inequities, and ineffective health promotion. However, prudent analysis of this topic indicates that of these three areas, the one that is most problematic is that of healthcare coverage. The logic behind this fact is fairly simple; improved health care coverage can ameliorate many of the issues that stem from ineffective health promotion and health inequities.
Lyotard, Jean François. The Postmodern Explained to Children: Correspondence "Answering the Question: What Is the Postmodern?", 1982-1985. Sydney: Power Publications, 1992.
The Middle Ages, and all of prominently configured ancient times differ from modern social traditions, relevantly due to the broad differenced in culture, technology, religious and sciences. The Renaissance Ages were moreover considered as the years of transition, where contemporary scientific discoveries were placed into affect, and enhanced political systems were inaugurated to battle against the “sovereign” yet malignant rulers who were determined to save their thrones in their Empires, and engaged in any remote, and localized conflicts to disable their opponents victories. New technologies were indeed in the revolutionary stages, and several new devices were founded by well contemplating scientists to ease the lifestyle of the everyday
Exploring postmodernism as an agent for the change, from a social and political context, it
The aspects of postmodernism
The biggest achievement in the Scientific Revolution was the collapse of the ancient-medieval picture of the world. The new ideology was created, which helped to create the modern science. In antiquity, the focus was on natural and cosmic life; during the Renaissance, there was a focus on understanding the world through Humanism and the role of the person in the world. After all, Descartes’s philosophy, which was the foundations of the scientific method, did not deny the creation of the world by God. However, it claimed that from that moment the world began to develop with its internal laws.
It is a perceptible phenomenon that modern ideas and transnational interaction between people brings about so many changes that they come into conflict with the existing norms and belief systems of a society. In fact, the ability to assimilate productive changes and the capacity to discard beliefs that are detrimental to the interest of the society are the essential qualities of a good social order. If a society allows itself to be dominated by beliefs that are not in tune with the needs and aspirations of the changing times, one cannot ascribe it as a progressive society. On the other hand, it must also be said that a society that is open to change without considering the detrimental effects that such a change can make in
Post-Modernsism is a very important and essential theory that has been brought about to the study of international relations. It falls under the category of post-positivism, which is a rejection of positivism in the sense that it dismisses the notion that international relations can be observed in an objective manner. Other theories encompassed in the post-positivism umbrella include constructivism, neo-marxism, critical theory, feminism, and post-colonialism (Burchill 2013). Post-Modernism also brought about new perspectives to international relations, these include: arbitrary nature of modernity, choice posing as truth, reality as a social construction, the rejection of positivism, the crisis of modernity, loss of confidence in the authority of the grand narratives, its relation to language, and the process of identity construction. Also, notably, Post-Modernism may receive criticism from constructivism and realism, but ultimately arguments for Post-Modernism will make more logical sense within the international relations arena. Lastly, Post-Modernism is essential because of it’s unique views in ideas such as language, abstract views, etc., to better understand political activity within the international relations community.