POL 2103 Chapter Notes - Chapter Reading: Michel Foucault, Post-Structuralism, Discourse Analysis
25 Dec 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Postmodernism is a radical critique of all claims to truth and the existence of an objective reality. It is a rejection of the totalizing claims of modernity, that is, the attempts to understand life as coherent and as such knowable through grand theories such as liberalism, realism and marxism. I(cid:374)stead of totalizi(cid:374)g (cid:272)lai(cid:373)s to u(cid:374)dersta(cid:374)d so(cid:272)iet(cid:455), it e(cid:374)(cid:272)ourages a radi(cid:272)al refle(cid:454)i(cid:448)it(cid:455) so o(cid:374)e must question the basis of all claims to knowledge. Argues that the fabric of the world (ontolog(cid:455)(cid:895) is dis(cid:272)ourse life is (cid:272)o(cid:374)stituted, or (cid:373)ade, through language and other representational practices. Life is not purely material, so that is why they reject totalizing claims. Particular style of analysis within postmodern thought that is a critique of structuralism. Structuralism suggested that there were deeper structures that are far more important in explaining society. It was possible to scientifically study the underlying structure of language to understand where everyday meaning comes from.
