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Chomsky's candid words on Postmodernism

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Master_Pedant
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13 Dec 2009, 11:56 am

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In fact, the entire idea of "white male science" reminds me, I'm afraid, of "Jewish physics." Perhaps it is another inadequacy of mine, but when I read a scientific paper, I can't tell whether the author is white or is male. The same is true of discussion of work in class, the office, or somewhere else. I rather doubt that the non-white, non-male students, friends, and colleagues with whom I work would be much impressed with the doctrine that their thinking and understanding differ from "white male science" because of their "culture or gender and race." I suspect that "surprise" would not be quite the proper word for their reaction.


http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1995----02.htm

It's good to know that tha academic left - at least outside the most flimsy Hummanities Departments - is rightly rejecting the nonsense of postmodernism.



TitusLucretiusCarus
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13 Dec 2009, 12:55 pm

true, postmodernism is about as relevant as the medieval philosophers debating how many angels would fit on the head of a pin. In other words it's an absolute crock of sh*t



Awesomelyglorious
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13 Dec 2009, 2:08 pm

Actually, I am going to disagree with anti-postmodernism on some level. Postmodern nihilism is nonsense, but that does not mean that anything tainted by postmodernism is nonsense. Legal writing, which can be noted as a relevant and useful field, is also one that a somewhat recent author considered to be a very postmodern perspective in legal thought. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... _id=966671 (talks about legal writing class and postmodernism) Not only that, but honestly, I do think that once one gets rid of a lot of the garbage that is out there, which is undeniable, that there is an important postmodern message that can and should be recognized. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... _id=966671 (talks about the applicability of postmodern theory to law)

Now, this does not mean I expect anyone to read the papers(although I do think that they are readable, and rational and very good papers). Abstracts could still be helpful for providing signs that reasonable people disagree on postmodernism, but the basic point is that postmodernism is a valid perspective. Not that every person calling themselves a postmodernist has a valid perspective, and I think a "postmodern perspective" is probably a non-perspective, but that does not mean that postmodernism is itself all nonsense.

Looking at Chomsky though, I am not sure I have a huge bone to pick necessarily: "The critique of "science" and "rationality" has many merits, which I haven't discussed. But as far as I can see, where valid and useful the critique is largely devoted to the perversion of the values of rational inquiry as they are "wrongly used" in a particular institutional setting. What is presented here as a deeper critique of their nature seems to me based on beliefs about the enterprise and its guiding values that have little basis. No coherent alternative is suggested, as far as I can discern; the reason, perhaps, is that there is none." As this entire paragraph is something I can appreciate, and that moderate postmoderns appear to recognize.