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Post-Modernism in the 20th & 21st Centuries: The Age of Anxiety - Prof. Janet M. Fortner, Study notes of Cultural History of Europe

The philosophical and cultural shifts that marked the transition from modernity to post-modernity, focusing on the failure of science and technology, linguistics, existentialism, and religion. The works of key thinkers such as ludwig wittgenstein, søren kierkegaard, jean-paul sartre, and albert camus, and their impact on our understanding of truth, existence, and the role of god in a post-modern world.

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Uploaded on 08/18/2009

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AGE OF MODERNITY & ANXIETY: POST-MODERNISM IN THE 20TH & 21ST CENTURIES
Lecture Guide # 32
I. RELATED EVENTS = FAILURE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY –> POST-Modern Turn
A. EUROPE: TITANIC, 1912; WWI, 1914-18; “Spanish Flu” 1920 PHILOSOPHY IN 20 TH C; WW2 & Holocaust
B USA (Later): Loss of Vietnam (1974), Challenger, AIDS (failures of our technology)
II PHILOSOPHY & LINGUISTICS
A. LINGUISTICS: “It’s a matter of semantics”
1 LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (1889-1951), Tractatus Logico-philosophicus, 1921 Nonvisible = “Nonsense words’
2 STRUCTURALISM IN PHILOSOPHY
a NO necessary connection between the “Word” and the “Thing”
b therefore, Language cannot communicate any real TRUTH
c Literary or Historical Texts = Politicized System of such Words-&-Things (i.e., propaganda)
d SO, Texts just mean whatever I WANT / Interpret them to mean (try this on a Post-moernist w/ a signed
contract!)
B. EXISTENTIALISM
1. SØREN KIERKEGAARD (1813-55): Danish Theologian
a. Forerunner of Nietzsche
b. “EXISTENCE” = HUMAN Freedom, Responsibility, Choice, Contemplation of DEATH, Anxiety
1) ACT responsibly & bravely
2) Tho unsure anything: Face UNCERTAINTY of Modern World
c. Attacked: Rationalism (dependence on reason), Determinism (science, Hegel, Marx)
2 INFLUENCE (with Nietzsche) ---> MODERN EXISTENTIALISM
a CHRISTIAN EXISTENTIALISM:
1) Christianity is Faith-based and, hence, IL-logical
a) No place for use of Reason
b) So, just make a "Leap-of-Faith” into the darkness and “hope”
2)
b SECULAR PHILOSOPHICAL
1) JEAN-PAUL SARTRE, Wrote: Nausea, No Exit, The Plague
a) MAN Possesses EXISTENCE which is Liberty
b) SARTRE’s Liberty is TRAGIC:
i) Liberty to say NO: “I can oppose anything”
ii) Liberalism’s Liberty was “I can do anything”
c) RECALL: Factor God out and you destroy your own values
2) ALBERT CAMUS (another similarly pessimistic French Existentialism)
III. RELIGION IN A POST-MODERN WORLD
A. KARL BARTH (1886-1968): ORTHODOXY without BELIEF
1 MAKE “LEAP OF FAITH” without COMPELLING REASONS
2 IMPOSSIBLE TO “KNOW” (He is thinking of Chicken Little Knowledge)
B. PAUL TILLICH: Shaking the Foundations, 1948
1. ANCIENT IMAGE OF “GOD IS DEAD” / PASSÉ
a. SUPREME BEING = ULTIMATE REALITY
b No “God” in any traditional sense
c Need to Give “New Content” to words like “GOD”
2. STRUGGLE TO MAKE A PLACE FOR “GOD” IN GOD-IS-DEAD WORLD
C. GENERAL “LOOSENING” OF ABSOLUTES IN RELIGIOUS WORLD
1. For GOOD (at least Christian world takes to each other now)
aWORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, 1948: PROTESTANT ECUMENISM
b VATICAN II of Pope JOHN XXIII attempted “AGGIORNAMENTO” = “UP-TO-DATE-ment”
1) Pace in terram, 1963
2) CATHOLIC ECUMENISM
2. For EVIL: NO ABSOLUTES: MORAL (Personal) or ETHICAL (Social)
IV LOSS OF SCIENTIFIC ABSOLUTES IN POST-MODERN SECULAR WORLD
A. SCIENCE (& SCIENTIFIC ABSOLUTISM) UNDER ATTACK FROM WITHIN
1. KARL POPPER, 1950s:
a. Philosophy of Science & Epistemology, 1935, 1959 (Engl. ed.)
b. Attack Principle of VERIFIBILITY
1) Cannot say hypothesis is VERIFIED (All swans are white til you find one black one)
2) Only say "NOT FALSIFIED"
2. THOMAS KUHN, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 1962
a. Science & Scientists are NOT OBJECTIVE
b. Sciences changes because of PARADIGM SHIFTS, NOT due to FACTS
B. WESTERN ABSOLUTES
1. ANCIENT WORLD
a. ANCIENT RELIGIONS: JEWISH ETHICAL MONOTHEISM
b. ROME
c. CHRIST
2. MIDDLE AGES: HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
3. SCIENCE:
a EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE YIELDS FACT
b. ONLY SCIENTIFIC FACTS = TRUTH
c. Auguste Comte: POSITIVISM
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AGE OF MODERNITY & ANXIETY: POST-MODERNISM IN THE 20TH^ & 21ST^ CENTURIES

Lecture Guide # 32

I. RELATED EVENTS = FAILURE OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY –> POST-Modern Turn A. EUROPE: TITANIC , 1912; WWI, 1914-18; “Spanish Flu” 1920 PHILOSOPHY IN 20 TH^ C; WW2 & Holocaust B USA ( Later ): Loss of Vietnam (1974), Challenger , AIDS (failures of our technology) II PHILOSOPHY & LINGUISTICS A. LINGUISTICS: “It’s a matter of semantics” 1 LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN (1889-1951), Tractatus Logico-philosophicus , 1921 Nonvisible = “Nonsense words’ 2 STRUCTURALISM IN PHILOSOPHY a NO necessary connection between the “Word” and the “Thing” b therefore, Language cannot communicate any real TRUTH c Literary or Historical Texts = Politicized System of such Words-&-Things (i.e., propaganda) d SO, Texts just mean whatever I WANT / Interpret them to mean (try this on a Post-moernist w/ a signed contract!) B. EXISTENTIALISM

  1. SØREN KIERKEGAARD (1813-55): Danish Theologian a. Forerunner of Nietzsche b. “EXISTENCE” = HUMAN Freedom, Responsibility, Choice, Contemplation of DEATH, Anxiety 1) ACT responsibly & bravely 2) Tho unsure anything: Face UNCERTAINTY of Modern World c. Attacked: Rationalism (dependence on reason), Determinism (science, Hegel, Marx) 2 INFLUENCE (with Nietzsche) ---> MODERN EXISTENTIALISM a CHRISTIAN EXISTENTIALISM: 1) Christianity is Faith-based and, hence, IL-logical a) No place for use of Reason b) So, just make a "Leap-of-Faith” into the darkness and “hope” 2) b SECULAR PHILOSOPHICAL 1) JEAN-PAUL SARTRE, Wrote: Nausea, No Exit, The Plague a) MAN Possesses EXISTENCE which is Liberty b) SARTRE’s Liberty is TRAGIC: i) Liberty to say NO: “I can oppose anything” ii) Liberalism’s Liberty was “I can do anything” c) RECALL: Factor God out and you destroy your own values 2) ALBERT CAMUS (another similarly pessimistic French Existentialism) III. RELIGION IN A POST-MODERN WORLD A. KARL BARTH (1886-1968): ORTHODOXY without BELIEF 1 MAKE “LEAP OF FAITH” without COMPELLING REASONS 2 IMPOSSIBLE TO “KNOW” (He is thinking of Chicken Little Knowledge) B. PAUL TILLICH: Shaking the Foundations , 1948
  2. ANCIENT IMAGE OF “GOD IS DEAD” / PASSÉ a. SUPREME BEING = ULTIMATE REALITY b No “God” in any traditional sense c Need to Give “New Content” to words like “GOD”
  3. STRUGGLE TO MAKE A PLACE FOR “GOD” IN GOD-IS-DEAD WORLD C. GENERAL “LOOSENING” OF ABSOLUTES IN RELIGIOUS WORLD
  4. For GOOD (at least Christian world takes to each other now) a WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES, 1948: PROTESTANT ECUMENISM b VATICAN II of Pope JOHN XXIII attempted “ AGGIORNAMENTO” = “UP-TO-DATE-ment”
  1. Pace in terram, 1963
  2. CATHOLIC ECUMENISM
  1. For EVIL: NO ABSOLUTES: MORAL (Personal) or ETHICAL (Social) IV LOSS OF SCIENTIFIC ABSOLUTES IN POST-MODERN SECULAR WORLD A. SCIENCE (& SCIENTIFIC ABSOLUTISM) UNDER ATTACK FROM WITHIN
  2. KARL POPPER, 1950s: a. Philosophy of Science & Epistemology, 1935, 1959 (Engl. ed.) b. Attack Principle of VERIFIBILITY
  1. Cannot say hypothesis is VERIFIED (All swans are white til you find one black one)
  2. Only say "NOT FALSIFIED"
  1. THOMAS KUHN, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 1962 a. Science & Scientists are NOT OBJECTIVE b. Sciences changes because of PARADIGM SHIFTS, NOT due to FACTS B. WESTERN ABSOLUTES
  2. ANCIENT WORLD a. ANCIENT RELIGIONS: JEWISH ETHICAL MONOTHEISM b. ROME c. CHRIST
  3. MIDDLE AGES: HOLY MOTHER CHURCH
  4. SCIENCE: a EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE YIELDS FACT b. ONLY SCIENTIFIC FACTS = TRUTH c. Auguste Comte: POSITIVISM

C. POST-MODERNISM: NO RELIGIOUS TRUTH, NO SCIENTIFIC TRUTH, HENCE, NO TRUTH

D. RELATIVISM:

1 RADICAL EPISTEMOLOGICAL TRUTH

a. # 1: CAN’T KNOW ANYTHING b. # 2: NOTHING TO KNOW IF You Could Know anything

  1. GOD IS DEAD
  2. ALL gODs ARE DEAD
  3. FACT IS DEAD
  1. RADICAL ETHICAL RELATIVISM a. EXTREME SUBJECTIVISM 1) MY FEELINGS ARE SUPREME 2) “I AM GOD” (“SHEILA-ISM” ) b. ONE -ISM IS AS GOOD AS ANOTHER c. RETURN OF BELIEF IN MAGIC & DEMONS 1) MAGIC / DEMONOLOGY FOCUSES ON ME 2) MAGIC EXALTS MAN EVEN MORE THAN SCIENCE DOES 3) MAGIC IS HOMO-CENTRIC & EGO-CENTRIC V OUR RESPONSE ?? A INSIST ON “FACT = KNOWLEDGE” EQUATION (MODERNISM) 1 YELL LOUDER AT POST-MODERNS 2 LOSSES: a MYSTERY OF RELIGION b SOVEREIGNTY OF TOTALLY KNOWABLE, PREDICTABLE GOD B INSIST ON “THERE-IS-NO-TRUTH” RELATIVISM (POST-MODERNISM) 1 SCREAM AT DEAF MODERNS 2 LOSSES a LOSE THE HISTORICAL (FACTUAL) BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY b END UP WITH SUBJECTIVE RELIGION (NEW AGE) C ALTERNATIVE 1 ADMIT THERE THE “MYSTERIOUS” a Because I don’t possess / know “ALL” truth does not mean that...
  1. There is NO truth
  2. I cannot know SOME / Enough Truth b This is “Epistemological Humility” 2 ACCEPT THE HISTORICITY OF CHRISTIAN RELIGION a BECAUSE FACTS cannot Subsume ALL Knowledge does NOT Exclude that Factual Information MAY contain truth b Facts which Contain Factual TRUTH are IMPORTANT c Christianity is a History-based Religion: If Jesus was NOT raised from the dead, in fact in space and time, then Christianity is a fraud and we are fools