Modern relativism suggests that postmodernism, as a way of thinking, is closely tied to human needs for progress in response to increasing challenges. As society evolves, culture often reflects and adapts to past influences, so it is unsurprising to see shifts across various contexts. Rising concerns, especially in science, are growing and changing along with the population.
Science, too, continually adapts and explores new possibilities, giving rise to ideas and new ways of understanding life. Each year, or even each century, brings fresh discoveries, as people naturally find fulfillment in scientific findings. First, one main finding or theory often gets retested and refined. Then, with its recurring themes, postmodernism builds on modernism without completely discarding the absolute reality of knowledge.
For example, objectivity implies a lack of personal bias, and thinkers like Jean-François Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, and Jacques Derrida helped shape modern perceptions. Postmodernism essentially builds on and critiques modernism, providing fresh approaches to scientific thought. In essence, postmodernism responds to current events’ flaws and changing relevance.
People frequently need help understanding where to start, defining it, and what postmodernism means. The term reflects a pluralistic approach, showing that modern relativism lacks a single, agreed meaning. Postmodernism could be seen as a reaction to modernism or a response to the Enlightenment’s shortcomings, aiming to go beyond absolute truths.
In this shift, desire often replaces intellect, while emotions outweigh cause and effect. Morality becomes relative, and social constructs replace rigid realities. Postmodernism, emerging in late 20th-century art, architecture, and criticism, offers a skeptical lens on culture, literature, art, philosophy, history, and more.
Postmodernism is more about dismantling and re-evaluating what is popular than following any single theory. Although it stems from modernism, it is not a single idea but a range of overlapping theories. Lyotard viewed postmodernism as a clear break from modernism, while Derrida saw it as a radical reformation where homogenizing theories are “killed.” Essentially, it marks the transition to a new era.
Etymologically, postmodernism comes from English and hints at a new, relative approach following modernism. The term first appeared in 1930, with Federico de Onís suggesting it was a reaction to modernism in art. Historian Arnold J. Toynbee referenced it in A Study of History in 1934. Since then, it has grown across fields, often critiquing modernism’s limitations.
In this sense, postmodernism touches on the state of technology, globalization, fragmented lifestyles, over-the-top consumerism, financial deregulation, identity critiques, and a renewed interest in traditional customs. In short, rationalism and secularism, at least in some abstract sense, represent the spirit of this era. Modernism strongly emphasizes progress and the idea of creating a world where needs are always met.
Rationality helps challenge myths and baseless traditions that hold society back. However, it has a dark side, often losing sight of human values. According to Max Horkheimer and Herbert Marcuse, the Enlightenment paved the way for oppression and domination, even as it encouraged progress. It becomes worrying as force is used to resolve conflicts, and inequality, social destruction, and pressure on the vulnerable grow more intense.
Søren Kierkegaard, through his philosophy, hints at how postmodernism and modern relativism emerged. He opposed rigid rational thinking and questioned the absolute truth of science. Kierkegaard believed that truth is subjective, highlighting the role of individual experience and its relative nature.
Outside science, this perspective has spread to various areas of life, reacting against the failures of modernism. Modernism often emphasized rationality and materialism, with technological advancements contributing to moral and religious disorientation as human dignity seemed to erode. In response, postmodern thinkers presented a new way of looking at things.
Postmodernism attempts to correct or reshape existing paradigms. For Derrida and Lyotard, it is the opposite of modernism, challenging modernism’s dominant ideas. This shift brought new terms and a revision of traditional knowledge.
In his take on modern subjectivity, Friedrich Nietzsche connected this trend of relativism to what we now call postmodern philosophy. Michel Foucault then applied this lineage to crucial moments in modern history. In his essay Nietzsche, Genealogy, History, Foucault describes a genealogical approach to studying history to find origins and uncover the changes and conflicts that create new eras, ideas, and institutions.
Lineage studies reveal unexpected encounters at critical points, leading to shifts in time, ideas, and institutions. The surface of history, according to Foucault, does not reveal an unchanging identity of its origins but rather a web of clashes and differences. He sees history as shaped by modern discourse, almost like a fictional narrative we impose on the past.
The vision of modernity involves temporality and the mix of chance and continuity. Progressive ideas often cover the breaks and interruptions in history’s natural flow. Postmodernism, however, promotes a model of metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical relativism. Postmodernists reject the idea of any objective reality or that any statement about reality is true or false.
To understand this, one has to be sure of certain things. Objective and absolute moral values should reflect the nature of reality, personal experience, and the way discourse shapes value. It means that modern scientific discourse, beyond its proof standards, holds no more “truth” than alternative views like astrology or magic. Postmodernists often emphasize evidence and reason in science as part of enlightenment rationality.
In any society, discourse usually reflects the interests and values of the dominant or elite group. Postmodernists disagree on the exact nature of this relationship; some align more closely with Karl Marx’s idea that the ruling class’s ideas shape the age. Foucault takes a more nuanced view, suggesting that what counts as knowledge is always shaped, in complex ways, by power.
Luce Irigaray takes it further, arguing that solid mechanics (compared to fluid mechanics) is more developed because male-dominated institutions tend to associate solidity with male traits. In modern linguistics, paternal authority is tied to aspects of language related to the mother and body, making the relationship even more complicated.
Postmodern thinkers aim to revisit, restore, and refine the established ideas created by modernist thinking, questioning and reconstructing societal realities, including diversity and natural facts. Postmodernism is relative and, in the cultural sense, aligns with anthropology.
No two cultures are identical; for example, American culture differs from other countries. Cultural values vary wildly, shaped by each society’s historical and geographical background.
Postmodernism sees cultural values as relative. Territory, culture, language, and religion shape each society’s values and customs, but these are not absolute; they must consider current situations and conditions. In postmodernism, even science is relative, with no absolute basis. To truly understand an event, you must consider all perspectives, not just one.
Advancements in transportation and communication have made people more aware and appreciative of religious and cultural diversity. Cultural, religious, familial, racial, and social diversity exists. Embracing different ideas, civilizations, and cultures encourages heterogeneity, not homogeneity.
The roots of postmodernity are best explored in Jürgen Habermas’s book The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity. Habermas points out what he sees as a significant flaw in postmodernism, saying it is ahistorical, almost as if it ignores the historical events and horizons that led to its existence. Similarly, Ali Maksum, chairman of the advisory council of Nahdlatul Ulama, has argued that postmodern criticism in aesthetics does not actually create literature or theories but instead masks societal sentimentality, disregards life’s rules, and blurs the lines between phenomena and practical action.
To postmodernist thinkers, these mistakes represent a double loss. However, they also serve as a critical source for developing normative standards and are the ultimate goal of social science.
Jean-François Lyotard introduced postmodernism to philosophy and science in the 1970s, defining it as a critique of universal knowledge, tradition, foundationalism, and modernism. Postmodernism is a movement that seeks to replace older, modernist ideas. This approach has spread into various fields, including science, in response to the perceived failures of modernism’s influence on literature and philosophy.
Modernism emphasized rationalism, materialism, and capitalism, fueled by science and technology, which led to moral and religious disorientation and the erosion of human dignity.
In contrast, postmodernism brings sensitivity to broader positive discourses, such as ethical principles, which can sometimes be twisted to oppress others. However, postmodernism’s positive side is its openness to diversity, tolerance, resistance to monopolies, and challenges to dominant religions and ideologies—all benefiting democracy. The downside is that postmodernism promotes short narratives that often lack clarity, fail to distinguish ideologies, and try to replace “grand narratives” with “small stories.”
Postmodernism critics need help to clarify whether their arguments are theoretical or literary. Habermas, for example, believes that postmodernist arguments are loaded with normative sentiments. Overall, postmodern discourse in science focuses on understanding what we call “knowledge” today, tracing its origins and historical development.
Concepts like madness, sexuality, human nature, and gender, typically viewed as natural, often become sites where science produces new interpretations.
References
- Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation (S. F. Glaser, Trans.). University of Michigan Press. (Original work published 1981)
- Derrida, J. (1978). Writing and Difference (A. Bass, Trans.). University of Chicago Press. (Original work published 1967)
- Foucault, M. (1977). Nietzsche, Genealogy, History. In D. F. Bouchard (Ed.), Language, counter-memory, practice: Selected essays and interviews (pp. 139-164). Cornell University Press.
- Habermas, J. (1987). The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity: Twelve Lectures. MIT Press. (Original work published 1985)
- Horkheimer, M., & Marcuse, H. (1972). Dawn and Decline: Notes and Sketches. Beacon Press.
- Kierkegaard, S. (1980). The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Edification and Awakening (H. V. Hong & E. H. Hong, Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1849)
- Lyotard, J.-F. (1984). The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (G. Bennington & B. Massumi, Trans.). University of Minnesota Press. (Original work published 1979)
- Maksum, A. (2018). Postmodernism and Literature: A Critical Exploration. Nahdlatul Ulama Press.
- Nietzsche, F. (1968). On the Genealogy of Morals (C. Kauffman, Trans.). Vintage Books. (Original work published 1887)
- Toynbee, A. J. (1954). A Study of History. Oxford University Press.
