Article critique

Article Critique

Introduction

The article written by Doglas Kellner deals with the questions of modernity and postmodernity that are among the most important theoretical and political debates of our time. The concept of the postmodern points to decisive breaks within the regions of history and society (modernity/postmodernity), the arts (modernism/postmodernism), and thought (modern/postmodern theory). Articulating these oppositions is a major concern of contemporary thought that in turn attempts to articulate what is new and original about our contemporary moment(Kellner 1999).

Evidence by Author

In theorizing the postmodern, one inevitably encounters the postmodern assault on theory, such as Lyotard's and Foucault's attack on modern theory for its alleged totalizing and essentializing character. The argument is ironic, of course, since it falsely homogenizes a heterogeneous "modern tradition" and since postmodern theorists like Foucault and Baudrillard are often as totalizing as any modern thinker. But where Lyotard seeks justification of theory within localized language games, arguing that no universal criteria are possible to ground objective truths or universal values, Foucault steadfastly resists any efforts, local or otherwise, to validate normative concepts and theoretical perspectives.

Assumptions on Theme

For Foucault, justification ensnares one in metaphysical illusions like "truth" and the only concern of the philosopher-critic is to dismantle old ways of thinking, to attack existing traditions and institutions, and to open up new horizons of experience for greater individual freedom. What matters, then, is results, and if actions bring greater freedom, the theoretical perspectives informing them are "justified." (Giddens 1991) From this perspective, theoretical discourse is seen not so much as "correct" or true," but as "efficacious," as producing positive effects.  Continuing along this path, postmodernists have attacked theory per se as at best irrelevant to practice and at worst a barrier to it. Giddens (1991) assails both meta theory -- reflection on the status of theory itself which often is concerned with epistemological and normative justification of claims and values -- and theory, which he critiques in three related ways that emerge through his own articulation of the "end of philosophy" thesis. Rigorously trained in analytic philosophy, Giddens (1991) became turncoat and abandoned the professional dogma that philosophy was "queen of the sciences" or the universal arbiter of values whose task was to provide foundations for truth and value claims. Philosophy has no special knowledge or truth claims because it, like any other cultural phenomenon, is a thoroughly linguistic phenomenon.

For Giddens (1991), language is a poetic construction that creates worlds, not a mirror that reflects "reality," and there are no pre-supposition less or neutral truths that evade the contingencies of historically shaped selfhood. Consequently, there is no non-circular, archimedean point for grounding theory. Language can only provide us with a "description" of the world that is thoroughly historical and contingent in nature.   We see public intellectuals as specialists in critical thinking who can employ their skills to counter the abuses of the public realm, in order to help reconstitute society and polity more democratically and to ensure that the private realm and its liberties and pleasures are not effaced through the ever-growing penetration of mass media, state administration, electronic surveillance, and the capitalist marketplace. Indeed, new media and computer technologies have created novel public spheres and thus unique ...