Matei Calinescu, Five Faces of Modernity:
Modernism, Avant-Garde, Decadence, Kitsch, Postmodernism. Durham: Duke
University Press, 1987. 395p.
On Postmodernism
Epistemology and Hermeneutics: From Modernity to
Postmodernity [269]
Epistemological problems - important changes havr occurred in
thr ways science views itself and the legitamacy of its
procedures of inference - analogies on level of artistic
consciousness - postmodern science
crisis of determinism
place of chance and disorder in natural processes
Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy
question of time and particularly irreversible time
Karl Popper's view of scientific theories in terms of "falsifiability"
rather than "verifiability"
Thomas Kuhn's "paradigms" and "scientific revolutions"
Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle Stengers (_Order out of Chaos_)
- distinction between modern science and new science [270]
biased against irreversible time (Arrow of Time)
Einstein resisted
due to modern science's effort to discover eternal laws of matter
biased against chance
obstacle to man's full mastery of natural laws
show that new science has rebutted negative views of irreversibility
and chance
basic assumptions of scientific theories in constant need of being
discussed, criticized, and reassessed inlight of their productivity
crisis of deterministic concept of truth
How does order arise from disorder?
"One of the main sources of fascination in modern science was
precisely the feeling that it had discovered eternal laws at the core of
nature's transformations and thus had exorcised time and becoming . . . A
new unity is emerging: irreversibility is a source of order at all levels.
Irreversibility is the mechanism that brings order ouy of chaos." [271]
Hermeneutics - deep historical self-consciousness [271]
goes back to Nietzsche's critique of both idealism and positivism
"facts are interpretations
current philosophical discussions of modernity frequently go back to
Nietzsche
back to Heidegger's radical historicism
frequently seen as first postmodern
end of modernity brings about "weak thought"
in opposition to metaphysics
domineering, imposing, universalistic, atemporal, aggressively self-
centered, intolerant of contradiction
Practical and political implications of weak thought
strong modern theory of revolution
weak thought
Andenken (rethinking)
Verwindung (healing, accepyance)
interpreter practices methodical weakness [273]
attentive and compliace to inner demands of object of interpretation
respect for its inner fragility
willingness to listen to what it says before questioning it
effort not to impose one's own convictions
Neo-Marxist Habermas: - speech on Modernity vs
Postmodernity in1980
neo-conservative ideology of postmodernity believes that modernity has
failed and should be repressed
he believes it is only unfinished -
neoconservative ideology of postmodernity should be rejected
French poststructuralism seen as conservative rejection of modernity
seen as descended from Nietzsche and Heidigger
Lyotard, 1979
once modernity disintegrates cardinal value of postmodern consciousness if
dissent [274]
lack of credibility of universalist conception
Two kinds of great stories have legitimized knowledge or answered "What
is knowledge ultimately good for> (1986)
1. Mythical (traditional) - legitimized by origins
2. projective (modern) - legitimize in terms of future
all modern projects are premised on a finalistic vision of
universal history - all major stories of emancipation are secularized
variations on the Christian paradigm
Enlightenment: progress throigh knowledge
Hegelian: emancipation of mind (Geist) from self-alienation through
dialectics
Marxist: emancipation from exploitation through revolutionary struggle of
proletariat
Capitalist: emancipation from poverty through the market - Adam Smith's
"Invisible Hand"
All lost credibility - [275]
Universalism displaced,
great stories of modernity disintegrating
now multitude of heterogeneous local histories
often paradoxical and paralogical
On Postmodernism
A New Face of Modernity
Epistemology and Hermeneutics: From
Modernity to Postmodernity
The Silence of the Avant-Garde
The Novelty of the Past: The View from
Architecture
Critiques of Postmodernism
Literary Postmodernism: The Shaping of
a Corpus
Postmodernist Devices and Their
Significance
Conclusion
Links and Abbreviations (links are abbreviated by using the
initials)