Postmodernism Course, Lesson 006

Free Bible Seminary Course On Postmodernism, Lesson 006

Postmodern Essay Questions

1. Do you agree that postmodernism is a dangerous deception? Why or why not?

2. Do contemporary media promote or erase boundaries? Explain.

3. Explain relativism.4. Explain the “Sokal Affair“.

5. Briefly define five “buzzwords” and use them in a paragraph.

6. Give examples of linear and circular reasoning.

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  1. Solomon Getachew says:

    I want to take this course on postmodernism.

  2. Free Bible Seminary Course On Postmodernism, Lesson 006
    Postmodern Essay Questions

    1. Do you agree that postmodernism is a dangerous deception? Why or why not?

    postmodernism is anti-order, anti-boundaries, anti-logic, anti-reality, anti-oppression, anti-government, anti-science, and anti-religion: so it is against many things, but for very little. The importance of a firm foundation is described by Jesus in Luke 6:48: “He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it was founded on the rock.” Alternatively, he describes the consequences of a lack of foundation in Luke 6:49: “But he who hears, and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” (WEB).
    Yes postmodernism is indeed dangers and deceptive. Postmodern era – the inability to reason analytically. Postmodernism, on the other hand, has lost respect for knowledge, legitimately seeing its limitations and contradictions. Less legitimately, the conclusion drawn by postmodernism is one of confusion and distrust – that nothing can truly be understood. This is a problem since the ability to reason and analyse is essential for navigating the environment, making sound judgments, and for carefully considering the more important aspects of life. Christianity is concerned about truth, which is information and wisdom; modernism is more focused on facts and analysis; and postmodernism seems to be concerned with factoids and individual bits of information, sometimes related, sometimes not; all delivered by the relentless bombardment of mass media. Postmodernism seems to offer some alternatives to joining the global culture of consumption, where commodities and forms of knowledge are offered by forces far beyond any individual’s control. These alternatives focus on thinking of any and all action (or social struggle) as necessarily local, limited, and partial–but nonetheless effective. By discarding “grand narratives” (like the liberation of the entire working class) and focusing on specific local goals (such as improved day care centers for working mothers in your own community), postmodernist politics offers a way to theorize local situations as fluid and unpredictable, though influenced by global trends. Hence the motto for postmodern politics might well be “think globally, act locally”–and don’t worry about any grand scheme or master plan.
    2. Do contemporary media promote or erase boundaries? Explain.

    The study of new media opens up some of the most fascinating issues in contemporary culture: questions of ownership and control over information and cultural goods; the changing experience of space and time; the political consequences of new communication technologies; and the power of users and consumers to disrupt established economic and business models.

    The New Media Theory Reader brings together key readings on new media – what it is, where it came from, how it affects our lives, and how it is managed. Using work from media studies, cultural history and cultural studies, economics, law, and politics, the essays encourage readers to pay close attention to the ‘new’ in new media, as well as considering it as a historical phenomenon. The Reader features a general introduction as well as an editors’ introduction to each thematic section, and a useful summary of each reading.

    3. Explain relativism.

    A theory, especially in ethics or aesthetics, that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them.

    4. Explain the “Sokal Affair“.

    Sokal’s “experiment” directly tested Gross and Levitt’s claims by attempting to get a paper published in a top deconstructionist journal. If they were correct, the content of the paper would not matter and could be filled with complete nonsense; what would matter would be fawning references to other deconstructionist authors and the proper amount of feminist and socialist thought.
    Sokal produced a paper that argued that quantum gravity has progressive political implications, and that Rupert Sheldrake’s New Age concept of the “morphogenetic field” could be a cutting-edge theory of quantum gravity. It concludes that, since “physical ‘reality’ … is at bottom a social and linguistic construct”, a “liberatory science” and “emancipatory mathematics” must be developed that spurn “the elite caste canon of ‘high science'” for a “postmodern science [that] provide[s] powerful intellectual support for the progressive political project”.[cite this quote]
    The affair spilled out of academia and into the mainstream press, and commentators are divided on the level of its consequences. Anthropologist Bruno Latour, one of those singled out by Sokal in his later book, has described the whole affair as a “tempest in a tea cup.” Mathematician Gabriel Stolzenberg, however, has written a number of essays with the stated purpose of debunking the claims made by Sokal and his allies[6]. He argues that Sokal and company do not possess a sufficient understanding of the philosophical positions that they criticize and that this lack of understanding renders their criticisms meaningless. Bricmont and Sokal replied to Stolzenberg in the journal Social Studies of Science[7], pointing out what they claimed were “tendentious misrepresentations” of their work and critiquing Stolzenberg’s commentary on the strong program. Stolzenberg replied in the same issue, arguing that both the critique and the allegations of misrepresentation were based on misreadings. He advised readers to examine the arguments on each side slowly and skeptically, bearing in mind the dictum that the obvious is sometimes the enemy of the true.

    5. Briefly define five “buzzwords” and use them in a paragraph.

    Globalization
    Anti-globalization
    Consumerism is a trap
    Income redistribution
    All systems are oppressive

    Postmodernism, rejects all political systems, seeing them as oppressive; promotes instability, and seeks decentralization of all types of power. Stronger, Western nations are labeled as imperialist if they attempt to influence other nations, although this label was once reserved for empire-building nations. Perhaps all countries could be labeled as imperialistic today, since politics is all about influence.
    According to Wikipedia, the postmodern movement
    “has had diverse political ramifications: its anti-ideological ideas appear conducive to, and strongly associated with, the feminist movement, racial equality movements, gay rights movements, most forms of late 20th century anarchism, even the peace movement and various hybrids of these in the current anti-globalization movement. Unsurprisingly, none of these institutions entirely embraces all aspects of the postmodern movement in its most concentrated definition, but reflect, or in true postmodern style, borrow from some of its core ideas.

    6. Give examples of linear and circular reasoning.

    This type of thinking lends itself to cyberspace surfing – hours can be spent exploring links before one realizes that the original topic of interest was forgotten long ago. It is also more compatible than linear thinking with the idea that there is no truth, words have no meaning, and nothing can be understood: if these premises are true, there is no need for a logical end to any thought pathway anyway.
    No doubt, there are advantages to circular reasoning, but the disadvantages are worrying. In a letter to Brian McLaren, prison evangelist and former Nixon aide Chuck Colson observed, “A generation raised on channel-surfing has lost the capacity for linear thinking and analytical reasoning.” Colson’s statement points to one of the biggest problems in education in the postmodern era – the inability to reason analytically.

  3. Scott says:

    I agree that postmodern is dangerous. The “christian” university I work at many of the professors have gone postmodern to fit into the world. They just recently published a book – Postmodern and wesleyan? After reading it I was so discouraged, if I believed this book there was nothing for me to believe anymore. Two of these professors are evolutionists.
    Keep the faith don’t believe a lie. Scott

  4. Benita Paschel says:

    1. Do you agree that postmodernism is a dangerous deception? Yes *It’s dangerous because many people don’t understand it. Therefore, it sneaks upon you in weak areas of your life. If you are not careful, you will conform your ways to its ridiculous interpretation.

    2. Do contemporary media promote or erase boundaries? Yes – Stuff that is shown on television, such as celebrities, pornography and other media that challenges ones intellect and level of integrity. The final result is destruction.

    3. Explain relativism. – The doctrine that knowledge, truth and morality exist in relation to culture, society or historical context and are not absolute. Everyone is entitled to his/her own opinions and beliefs and are said to not be wrong. Because, it is what a person may be accustomed to, his set of values and environmental structure.

    4. Explain the “Sokal Affair.” – According to the encyclopedia, quoted directly from )the Sokal affair, also known as the Sokal hoax, was a publishing hoax perpetrated by Alan Sokal, a physics professor at New York University. In 1996, Sokal submitted an article to Social Text, an academic journal of postmodern cultural studies. The submission was an experiment to test the publication’s intellectual rigor and, specifically, to learn if such a journal would “publish an article liberally salted with nonsense if it sounded good and flattered the editors’ ideological preconceptions.”

    The article “Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity”, published in the Social Text Spring/Summer 1996 “Science Wars” issue, proposed that quantum gravity is a social and linguistic construct. At that time, the journal did not practice academic peer review and did not submit the article for outside expert review by a physicist. The journal’s editorial collective did, however, express concerns to Sokal about the piece, and requested changes, which Sokal refused to make. Wishing to include the work of a physicist, the editors decided to accept the article on the basis of Sokal’s credentials. On its date of publication (May 1996), Sokal revealed in Lingua Franca that the article was a hoax, identifying it as “a pastiche of Left-wing cant, fawning references, grandiose quotations, and outright nonsense . . . structured around the silliest quotations [by postmodernist academics] he could find about mathematics and physics”.

    The resultant academic and public quarrels concerned the scholarly merit, or lack thereof, of humanistic commentary about the physical sciences; the influence of postmodern philosophy on social disciplines in general; academic ethics, including whether Sokal was wrong to deceive the editors and readers of Social Text; and whether the journal had exercised the appropriate intellectual rigor before publishing the pseudoscientific article.

    5. Briefly define five “buzzwords” and use them in a paragraph

    1. Bliss – perfect happiness and great joy.

    I was very bliss to see my son get married on July 23, 2011. I participated in the wedding and had the privilege of dancing with my son. My grandchildren also attended. They were very excited.

    2. Pastiche – an artistic work in a style that imitates the style of previous works.

    I listen to all kinds of musical works. Many artists get their beat patterns and ideas from other professional artists. They utilize this method so that they can gain more attention from the general public. For instance, when Fantasia sing, “Purple Rain,” she pastiche Prince in so many ways.

    3. Rhizome – horizontal underground plant item capable of producing the upward shoot and downward root systems of a new plant. It allows vegetative (asexual) propagation and enables plants to survive an annual unfavorable season underground.

    When I was a teenager, I planted my first garden. It consisted of corn, okra and green beans. If I had known that rhizome would benefit my vegetation’s grown, I would have considered this selection in the planting process.

    4. Collage – an artistic composition of materials and objects pasted over a surface, often with unifying lines and color.

    The kindergarten class made all kinds of colorful posters for the award ceremony. The posters were collage on the bulletin board. Parents were in awe as they walked by to observe what the young students had accomplished.

    5. Hubris – arrogance, excessive pride or self-confidence

    Moses told Pharaoh that God said, “let His people go.” Pharaoh was lifted up in hubris and denied Moses’ request. Numerous plagues were brought upon Egypt. The Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea.

    6. Give examples of linear and circular reasoning

    Linear thinking is following the same pattern repeatedly. For instance, you may be a mail carrier who has traveled the same route to a particular address for years. There were other routes that may have been shorter, but you settled for what you already knew. This could also be a hindering factor when managers hire new employees. Because his/her focus may be on the amount of experience a person has in a particular area rather than diverse backgrounds that can bring about a positive change in the environment.

    Circular reasoning is an attempt to support a statement by simply repeating the statement in different or strong terms. It can fall in a true or untrue category, opening up a mere discussion of debate. For instance, I can say that President Bush was the best President that we have ever had. This statement alone would fall in this category.

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