Re: Post-modern Pre-modernism

Matthew S. Tomaso (Tomaso@MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU)
Tue, 3 Oct 1995 17:44:23 -0500

Byers and Warms have provided interesting and valuable perspectives on an
issue which I have obsessed on so much that it is partof the fabric of my
being. Firstly, the term 'postmodernism' has no fixed meaning and the
condition to which it refers, postmodernity, is at best a period, and at
worst, a paradigm. To say 'I am a postodernist' is to ascribe an identity
to one's self for political purposes - it can not, therefore, refer to any
'objective facts'. 'Postmodernism' is the practice of constructing ideology
pertaining to the self ascription 'postmodern'.
That said, let me also state that I completely disagree with the idea that
it is impossible to find rationalism and positivism in postmodernism.
Postmodern writers often attempt to hide their rational underpinnings, but
they're there! Postmodernity is an extension of modernism whose roots are
so embedded in it that they are inextricable.
__________________________________________________________
Matt Tomaso.
TOMASO@MAIL.UTEXAS.EDU
Anthropology. University of Texas at Austin.
Phone/Fax 512-453-6256
__________________________________________________________