A while back, I thought about going into academics. I was working on a Masters in the humanities and all was well except … I just couldn’t do postmodernism.
Maybe it’s my background in the hard sciences, but when people would say that nothing really exists, it was difficult for me not to respond, “Well, why don’t you just give me all your money then? It exists to me.” When recognized experts insisted that words have no intrinsic meaning, I fought with myself not to say, “Well then, why should I pay you to teach me? Why shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
Yet I do see value in postmodernism. To me, it’s kind of like a wall. Not the Great Wall of China – more like a wall in an obstacle course or a garden wall.
I can take my ideas, opinions, and theories and bounce them off that wall, paying attention to which direction they bounce and how far, etc. This kind of testing of our ideas can reveal hidden presuppositions and prejudices, helping us to refine out thoughts and better line them up with reality. I was doing that instinctively before I even knew what postmodernism was.
The wall is really useful, but …
You can’t live on it. And I think maybe that’s where people go wrong.
They try to live on a vertical surface, instead of on the ground. It’s a little like the ancient pillar saint Simeon Stylites. To be sure, it’s an achievement to live your life in such an unlikely position. But gravity will catch up with you at some point, and then what’s it all been for?
Originally posted July 26, 2009 on White Tree Ideas
Mars Girl on August 4, 2009
I think that’s the problem with a lot of the critical schools of thought–you really cant hang your hat permanently on any of them completely. They are good for bouncing thoughts off of to contemplate inner meanings of ideas and art, but when you really try to apply them to real life in all situations, they really kind of fall flat. Can you imagine living your life by existentialism? I’m fascinated by existentialism and I like to flirt with that area of criticism… But no one can truly live their live as an existentialist. Or you’d probably be a sociopath…
-kl on August 4, 2009
Exactly what I was trying to say! Great minds …
Jill on January 7, 2010
When I was in grad school and taking classes in critical theory, I kept having to read Derrida. I finally went to my professor and said, “When I’m reading these books, I feel like I understand but when I put the book down, I can’t explain what I’ve read.” The professor said, “oh then you’re reading it correctly!”
Well, what good is that?
– kl on January 7, 2010
My point exactly. 🙂