Editing Postmodern philosophy (section)

== Subjects ==
===On literature===
Postmodern philosophy has had strong relations with the substantial literature of [[critical theory]],<ref>''Problematizing Global Knowledge''. Theory, Culture & Society. Vol. 23 (2–3). Sage, 2006</ref> although some critical theorists such as [[Jurgen Habermas]]<ref>https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/ https://web.archive.org/web/20211201023207/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/postmodernism/</ref> have opposed postmodern philosophy.

===On the Enlightenment===
Many postmodern claims are critical of certain eighteenth-century [[Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]] values. Postmodern writings often focus on [[deconstruction|deconstructing]] the role that power and ideology play in shaping discourse and belief. Postmodern philosophy shares [[ontology|ontological]] similarities with classical [[Philosophical skepticism|skeptical]] and [[Moral relativism|relativistic]] belief systems.<ref name=britannica />

===On truth and objectivity===
According to [[David Novitz]], philosophical postmodernism challenges the notion that truth can be achieved.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Poverty of Anti-realism Critical Perspectives on Postmodernist Philosophy of History|publisher=Lexington Books|page=13}}</ref> The ''[[Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy]]'' states that "The assumption that there is no common denominator in 'nature' or 'truth' ... that guarantees the possibility of neutral or objective thought" is a key assumption of postmodernism.<ref>Ermarth, Elizabeth Deeds. Postmodernism, 1998, {{doi|10.4324/9780415249126-N044-1}}. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Taylor and Francis, https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/postmodernism/v-1 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180419121306/https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/postmodernism/v-1 |date=19 April 2018 }}.</ref> The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes it as "a set of critical, strategic and rhetorical practices employing concepts such as difference, repetition, the trace, the simulacrum, and hyperreality to destabilize other concepts such as presence, identity, historical progress, epistemic certainty, and the univocity of meaning."<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Postmodernism |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/postmodernism |access-date=18 October 2024 |date= |orig-date=1st pub. 2005 |editor-last=Zalta |editor-first=Edward N. |edition=Spring 2015 |series=sep-postmodernism |last1=Aylesworth |first1=Gary }}</ref> The [[National Research Council (United States)|National Research Council]] has characterized the belief that "social science research can never generate objective or trustworthy knowledge" as an example of a postmodernist belief.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Council|first1=National Research|last2=Education|first2=Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and|last3=Education|first3=Center for|last4=Research|first4=Committee on Scientific Principles for Education|title=Scientific Research in Education|date=2002|publisher=National Academies Press|isbn=9780309082914|pages=20, 25|language=en}}</ref> [[Jean-François Lyotard]]'s seminal 1979 ''[[The Postmodern Condition]]'' stated that its hypotheses "should not be accorded predictive value in relation to reality, but strategic value in relation to the questions raised". Lyotard's statement in 1984 that "I define postmodern as incredulity toward meta-narratives" extends to incredulity toward science. [[Jacques Derrida]], who is generally identified as a postmodernist, stated that "every referent, all reality has the structure of a differential trace".<ref name=":2"/> There are strong similarities with post-modernism in the work of [[Paul Feyerabend]]; Feyerabend held that modern science is no more justified than witchcraft, and has denounced the "tyranny" of "abstract concepts such as 'truth', 'reality', or 'objectivity', which narrow people's vision and ways of being in the world".<ref name="sep feyerabend">{{cite web|last1=Preston|first1=John|title=Paul Feyerabend|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2016/entries/feyerabend/|website=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University|access-date=19 April 2018|date=2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Denis Charles|last2=Burbules|first2=Nicholas C.|title=Postpositivism and Educational Research|date=2000|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=9780847691227|page=1|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kidd|first1=Ian James|title=Was Feyerabend a Postmodernist?|journal=International Studies in the Philosophy of Science|date=21 December 2016|volume=30|issue=1|pages=55–68|doi=10.1080/02698595.2016.1240463|s2cid=151746255|quote=This article asks whether the philosophy of Paul K. Feyerabend can be reasonably classified as postmodernist, a label applied to him by friends and foes alike.}}</ref> Defenders of postmodernism state that many descriptions of postmodernism exaggerate its antipathy to science; for example, Feyerabend denied that he was "anti-science", accepted that some scientific ''theories'' are superior to other theories (even if science itself is not superior to other modes of inquiry), and attempted conventional medical treatments during his fight against cancer.<ref name="sep feyerabend"/><ref>{{cite news|last1=Horgan|first1=John|author-link1=John Horgan|title=Was Philosopher Paul Feyerabend Really Science's "Worst Enemy"?|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/was-philosopher-paul-feyerabend-really-science-s-worst-enemy/|access-date=19 April 2018|work=[[Scientific American]] Cross-check (blog)|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pierre|first1=Elizabeth Adams St|title=Comment: "Science" Rejects Postmodernism|journal=Educational Researcher|date=July 2016|volume=31|issue=8|pages=25–27|doi=10.3102/0013189X031008025|s2cid=145216107}}</ref>