Title: Postmodernism - Wikipedia
Headings: Postmodernism
Postmodernism
Contents
Definition
Origins of term
History
Theories and derivatives
Structuralism and post-structuralism
Deconstruction
Post-postmodernism
Philosophy
Jacques Derrida
Michel Foucault
Jean-François Lyotard
Richard Rorty
Jean Baudrillard
Fredric Jameson
Douglas Kellner
Manifestations
Architecture
Art
Graphic design
Literature
Music
Urban planning
Criticisms
See also
References
Further reading
External links

Content: Criticisms of postmodernism are intellectually diverse and include arguments that postmodernism promotes obscurantism, is meaningless, and that it adds nothing to analytical or empirical knowledge. Contents
1 Definition
2 Origins of term
3 History
4 Theories and derivatives
4.1 Structuralism and post-structuralism
4.2 Deconstruction
4.3 Post-postmodernism
5 Philosophy
5.1 Jacques Derrida
5.2 Michel Foucault
5.3 Jean-François Lyotard
5.4 Richard Rorty
5.5 Jean Baudrillard
5.6 Fredric Jameson
5.7 Douglas Kellner
6 Manifestations
6.1 Architecture
6.2 Art
6.3 Graphic design
6.4 Literature
6.5 Music
6.6 Urban planning
7 Criticisms
8 See also
9 References
10 Further reading
11 External links
Definition
Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourse defined by an attitude of skepticism toward what it describes as the grand narratives and ideologies of modernism, as well as opposition to epistemic certainty and the stability of meaning. It questions or criticizes viewpoints associated with Enlightenment rationality dating back to the 17th century, and is characterized by irony, eclecticism, and its rejection of the "universal validity" of binary oppositions, stable identity, hierarchy, and categorization. Postmodernism is associated with relativism and a focus on ideology in the maintenance of economic and political power. Postmodernists are generally "skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races," and describe truth as relative. It can be described as a reaction against attempts to explain reality in an objective manner by claiming that reality is a mental construct. Access to an unmediated reality or to objectively rational knowledge is rejected on the grounds that all interpretations are contingent on the perspective from which they are made; as such, claims to objective fact are dismissed as "naive realism ." Postmodern thinkers frequently describe knowledge claims and value systems as contingent or socially-conditioned, describing them as products of political, historical, or cultural discourses and hierarchies. Accordingly, postmodern thought is broadly characterized by tendencies to self-referentiality, epistemological and moral relativism, pluralism, and irreverence.