Enlightenment: Epistemological Privilege the Enlightment Term Paper

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The Marxist view views the postmodern as the culture of late Capitalism (Jameson), which in turn is not "epochal" or unique but is essentially an outgrowth of Capitalistic politics and economics.

This is in contrast to the more positive appraisals of postmodernism by other theorists like Hebdige; who envisages a reduction of class consciousness and other positive outcomes of the postmodern mode of thought.

Baudrillard's view is also considered, which tends to see postmodernism in terms of a "new" or epochal change in various aspects of human culture. Despite his pessimism and rejection of postmodern culture, he provides insight into the nature of postmodern culture. He stresses, for example, the way that postmodern culture is focused on images, similitude or representations of reality and whether it is no longer possible to separate reality from fiction.

Baudrillard's view is also important it that it highlights two central aspects of postmodernism and its influence; namely the emergence of the information society through technology and the mass media and consumerism.

This also refers to the important aspect of signs or signifiers and the relationship between the signifier and the signified. In other words, in the postmodern context words and their meaning are no longer linked by ultimate and objective truths but are relative and malleable, depending on their context. This refers to the well- known postmodern concept of a "play between signs." This view is also opposed to the idea of rational enlightenment and scientific conformity.

Constructive views of postmodernism are also considered in terms of the way that postmodern is seen to have done away with the master narratives of political, economic and social and cultural hegemonies. This also refers to the "liberation" of cultural and political groups in terms of the perspective and ethos of postmodernism.

Under this section, the article discusses views of postmodernism that see this ethos as providing the groundwork for a change from the perceived modernist failing of aspects in culture, such as patriarchy, anthropocentricism and economic vandalism.

These assessments also refer to new cultural and social forms, such as the changing concept of the family and alternative lifestyles.

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In theoretical terms, these changes and formation of new concepts of relative reality challenge the norms and values that were projected by the Enlightenment.

Questions

1. What is discipline? And what does it do to bodies?

Discipline in the context of postmodernism refers to the constraints that are created by meta or master narratives. In other words, a discipline like Sociology comprises a set of norms, values and assumptions that create a body of knowledge that conforms to certain principles and to a certain mindset. The affect of this is to constrain or to train bodies to think or perceive in certain ways.

The postmodern ethos attempts to break these boundaries between disciplines and allow for a more open-ended form of interaction and exchange of knowledge

2. How does it work?

It works through the process of accepted ideologies and mindsets. This means that certain assumptions and perceptions are seen as being unquestionable an therefore this retains the form and context of the discipline

How does it relate to knowledge?

Knowledge is selected and refined by the various norms, standards and assumptions that exist in a discipline. In other words, knowledge that is not "appropriate" to that discipline will not be accepted.

4. What is discourse? Is discourse simply linguistic?

Discourse refers to interaction of ideas and concepts on various levels. It is more than only linguistic interaction but also refers to thoughts and concepts that are often difficult to put into linguistic terms.

How might language limit what may be lived and known?

In the postmodern context language is often seen as the way that relative realities are created and that all knowledge is a play of language or the play between signifier and signified: word and meaning. Language in this sense limits the understanding of the world and reality due to the internal limits and constraints within each language created by the concepts and assumptions that form part of that language and that can prevent one from….....

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