Don't know who wrote that definition of postmodernism, Bill, looks as if it comes from some course syllabus. But whoever did it, should have left it alone. She or he has no idea. Not even close.
The problem, of course, is that, like most philosophical positions, to advance a definition is to walk into the proverbial debating minefield. Others in the field will not only offer different definitions, they will, usually in full flame thrower mode, suggest your brain is less than functional because you've just left out the essentials.
For my money, as I've posted here, the book that makes the best case for a variant of postmodernism is Richard Rorty's Contingency and Irony. On that one, Paul Philp and I agree.
Foucault is certainly a variant and the tight link between knowledge and power often appears in certain variants of postmodernism. I have no doubt the link is there but would argue that it's not isomorphic (which was Kurtz' view of postmodernism). |
