Formulating a new approach to philosophy which, instead of simply rejecting postmodern thought, tries to assimilate some of its main features, Paul Crowther identifies conceptual links between value, knowledge, personal identity and civilization understood as a process of cumulative advance. To establish these links, Crowther deploys a mode of analytic philosophy influenced by Cassirer. This approach recontextualizes precisely those aspects of postmodernism which appear, superficially, to be fuel for the relativist fire. This method also enables him to illuminate some of (...) the great practical dangers of the postmodern era - most notably the widespread inability or unwillingness to distinguish between signs and reality. Crowther renews analytic philosophy as a searching form of conceptual and cultural critique that pushes beyond the limits of postmodern thought. Essential reading for advanced students and academics interested in Twentieth Century Philosophy, _Philosophy After Postmodernism_ will also be of value to scholars working in the fields of Cultural Studies and Sociology. (shrink)

This book provides a detailed overview of postmodern feminist theory and practice. The author critically examines the work of the major contemporary feminist theorists and makes a significant intervention into current debates about the future of feminism.

æWhat is Post-Modernism?' Is it a new world view,or an outgrowth of the Post-Industrial Society? Is it a shift in philosophy, the arts and architecture? In this fourth, entirely revised edition, Charles Jencks, one of the founders of the Post-Modern Movement, shows it is all these things plus many other forces that have exploded since the early 1960s. In a unique analysis, using diagrams designed especially for this edition, he reveals the evolutionary, social and economic forces of this new stage (...) of global civilisation. But why has post-modern culture arrived? In an ironic parable, æthe Protestant Crusade'. Jencks uncovers some hitherto hidden origins: the Modernists' abhorrence for all things sensuous and natural, and their zeal for all things orderly and mechanistic. This pseudo-religion led in the 1920s to the famous ævacuum-cleaning' period, the purgation of values, metaphysics and emotion. In the 1970s it led on to the æProtestant Inquisition' which inadvertently created the very enemy Modernists feared - Post-Modernism; a Counter-Reformation, the reassertion of worldliness, fecundity, humour and pluralism. However, more than one tradition emerged and Jencks, distinguishing two types of Post-Modernism demonstrates that the former is often a disguised form of Late-Modernism. This takes the de-creation and nihilism of its parent to extremes. The main engine that drives global culture today - post-modernisation, the electronic economy and instant communications network - is analysed in its close relation to other æposts': Post-Fordism, Post-Socialism and the post-national world of trading blocs and unstable nations. Jencks argues that this may result in catastrophe and global governance, or a web of transnational institutions and obligations. The most radical idea of this challenging book is the conclusion: the notion that the post-modern world does not mean the end of metanarratives, but something quite different. Belief systems are flourishing as never before and, Jencks argues, æa new metanarrative, based on the story of the universe and its generative qualities, will soon create a new world view that will affect all areas. It is a story which grows directly out of the post-modern sciences of complexity and is thus both true and mythic.' Other What is...' titles include What ision?, What is Deconstruction? (shrink)

This is an examination of the effect that postmodernism has had upon sociological thought. Individual chapters address the topics of class, gender, race, criminology, deviance, law, culture, sexuality, emotion, medicine, science, and technology.

This article is concerned with developing a philosophical approach to a number of significant changes to academic publishing, and specifically the global journal knowledge system wrought by a range of new digital technologies that herald the third age of the journal as an electronic, interactive and mixed-media form of scientific communication. The paper emerges from an Editors' Collective, a small New Zealand-based organisation comprised of editors and reviewers of academic journals mostly in the fields of education and philosophy. The paper (...) is the result of a collective writing process. (shrink)

This book is a commentary on ideas about contemporary education, how it is conducted and how it is administered. In a set of thematic essays the editors aim at clarifying the educational problems and paradoxes of postmodern educational conditions and theory. The major concerns of the book are the possibility of achieving substantive political objectives and of theorizing such possibilities. These concerns arise from a dissatisfaction with the organizational and political conditions of postmodern educational practice. The seeming inability of academics (...) to intervene in the public sector, especially in matters of equality, provides a driving force for the book. For individuals who care about the future of education and its role in social reconstruction, the pessimistic nature of postmodern theories of society and education is an additional impetus for the book. All of the chapters exemplify the issues that confront lecturers in contemporary university teacher education contexts. (shrink)