lee

Postmodernism in the Social Sciences: 

Postmodernism in the Social Sciences Zosimo E. Lee, Ph.D. College of Social Sciences and Philosophy University of the Philippines

Main topics: 

Main topics A narrative of reason’s development Rationality and critique Modernity and progress Referent and legitimacy Reflection and meta-theory

A narrative of reason’s progress: 

A narrative of reason’s progress The contest between hegemony and tolerance Three events that ushered in the Enlightenment: A. Luther’s challenge to the hegemony of the Catholic Church B. The rise of science and technology

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C. The rise of the nation-state Three implications: Need for tolerance among conflicting religious beliefs. Reliance on the ability of reason to solve problems and discover laws of nature

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The conception of human rights and limits to authority of the sovereign.

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Since the hegemonic belief-system from Christendom was shattered, citizens had to learn to abide by rules they could accept so that they could live with one another. It was also possible to design social institutions on the basis of human principles.

Rationality and critique: 

Rationality and critique The development of science and technology during the 17th and 18th centuries unleashed creative energies and potentials. Colonial discoveries and invention in manufacture and engineering. Reliance on a conception of objective reason that brought about definite results.

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Reason makes it possible for human beings to penetrate the mysteries of nature, or to develop forms of government that will ensure human rights and expand human liberties. Reason provides itself with its own reasons for confidence in its procedures and results.

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Rationality is the guiding principle of practices that are rule- and criterion-governed, and that engage in the self-corrective adjustment of means and ends.

Varieties of rationality: 

Varieties of rationality A. Ends-means rationality B. Rationality within a hierarchical system or within a body of thought and practice C. Mixed type, e.g. how does an institution advance its interests within a larger context. These are however linear, and not holistic and organic. They are ‘internal’ to reason and do not take an ‘external’ view.

Need for foundations or certainty: 

Need for foundations or certainty Reason had to be able to validate itself. What would be its grounds for certainty or knowledge? Could reason look at itself as a whole? Could it realize its own limitations and delusions?

Modernity and Progress: 

Modernity and Progress Confidence in reason and the possibility of progress. The notion of master-narratives: A. positivist science, B. Marxism or historical materialism, e.g. the view that ideas themselves have a history, C. Structuralism, e.g. Freudian psychology and the unconscious.

Despair and discontent: 

Despair and discontent Wittgenstein’s critique of the possibility of absolute and total knowledge in favor of the actual and the common. Problems of the 20th century like war, poverty and disenchantment with material progress, question whether the whole of reason can be encapsulated.

Universality and particularity: 

Universality and particularity The possibility of reason as a universal phenomenon, hence the communicability of experience. Particular experiences and cultures, and whether there are universal grounds. The question of the commensurability of human situations.

Referent and legitimacy: 

Referent and legitimacy Discourses and their referent: what are being talked about when social theorists build their systems. What is indicated in the grand theorizing? How do we know whether what is being said is true, or do we have bases for confidence that our beliefs are right?

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Jean Francois Lyotard argues that scientific and rationalist discourses have lost their “legitimacy”. How do various discourses and disciplines, as well as particular arguments, ‘legitimize’ themselves?

Post-modernity as a contested idea: 

Post-modernity as a contested idea Two views: Lyotard: the modern project is completed, and post-structuralist especially anti-foundationalist ideas must be incorporated into or supplant modern ideas of criticism.

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Jürgen Habermas: the modern project is not finished, universality cannot be so lightly dispensed with. The modern hope that a more careful use of reason might lead to the eventual betterment of humankind.

The postmodernist critique: 

The postmodernist critique Master-narratives are suspect. All hegemonies are totalitarian. There must be other bases for communicability aside from universal reason. What is the legitimacy of this critique itself?

Context of postmodernity: 

Context of postmodernity Conditions of life prevalent in the late 20th century and the early 21st century in the most industrialized nations are characterized by ubiquity of mass media and mass production, unification into national economies of all aspects of production, global economic arrangements, shift from manufacturing to service economies.

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Discourse as a form of contestation. Are we also accepting the West’s description of our own situation and dilemma? Is this hegemonic? What would be our own understanding of our own situation based on our cultural categories?

Contrasting tendencies: 

Contrasting tendencies Modernity: Master-narratives and meta-narratives of history, cultural and national identity Faith in totalizing explanations Postmodernity: Suspicion and rejection of master-narratives, local narratives, ironic deconstruction Rejection of totalizing theories

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Faith in myths of social and cultural unity, hierarchies of social class and ethnic or national values. Faith in progress through science and technology. Social and cultural pluralism, disunity, unclear bases for social/national/ ethnic unity. Skepticism of progress, anti-technology reactions.

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Sense of unified, centered self: ‘individualism’, unified identity. Ideal of ‘family’ as central unit of social order. Sense of fragmentation and decentered self, multiple even conflicting identities. Alternative family units.

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Hierarchy, order, centralized control. Faith in ‘depth’ (meaning, value, content, the signified) over ‘surface’ (appearances, the signifier) Subverted order, loss of centralized control, fragmentation. Attention to play of surfaces, images, signifiers without concern for ‘depth’.

Justification and the social sciences: 

Justification and the social sciences How do the disciplines and various discourses prove that they are worthy of serious attention or that they should be viewed as reliable and authoritative? To what standards, protocols, values do and must the disciplines appeal?

Reflection and meta-theory: 

Reflection and meta-theory How do we judge whether our own thinking is reliable? A. concept of evidence or ground, data or referent; B. substance of thought, our ideas and our evaluation, based on consistency of reasoning and validity of inference;

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Categories of discourses, e.g. advocacy, proving or substantiating, proposing, arguing, pleading, etc. Reflection as awareness of our processes of thinking as well as evaluating content.

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What moves us to act or to believe? When do we say that we are convinced and why?

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How do we classify reasons (acceptable or not, valid or not, good reasons as against weak reasons)? Do we have criteria for what is reasonable?