Download Chapter 8 LE 300N EW

POSTMODERNISM
INSTRUCTOR:
Eileen Wade, Ed.D.
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AGENDA CHAPTER 8
Defining Postmodernism
Situating Postmodernism
Why Study Postmodernism?
Postmodernism as a Philosophy of Education
- Metaphysics
- Epistemology
- Axiology
- Logic
Postmodernism’s Educational Implications
Defining Postmodernism
• To define postmodernism, we need to
examine the words, post and modernism. As
a prefix, post means coming after, later, or
following in time.
• So the obvious meaning in this context is
after or following the modern period of
history.
• In Western history, the modern period’s onset
is usually cited as beginning with the coming
of the Renaissance around 1500 A.D. and
then continuing onward.
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Situating Postmodernism
• Postmodernism is an orientation or
perspective.
• As an orientation, it includes individuals
whose parents field are sociology,
anthropology, literature, art, architecture,
and education, as well as philosophy.
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Why Study Postmodernism?
• Postmodernism is one of the leading
contemporary philosophical orientations.
• It is especially influential in academic fields
such as literary criticism and educational
foundations.
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Postmodernism as a Philosophy of
Education
• Metaphysics – Postmodernists reject the
grand philosophical systems purported to
explain reality as an architecture of the
universe, and the metaphysical
assumption that an ultimate ground of
being, a transcendent cosmic reality, exists
above and beyond the physical world.
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Postmodernism as a Philosophy of
Education
• Epistemology – Postmodernism argues
against traditional philosophies’
epistemological claims that we know objects
as they correspond to reality.
• Postmodernists suggest that rather than
looking outside of the human experience and
history for truth, they advise us to look within
the human past and present to see how
claims to truth have originated, been
constructed and expressed.
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Postmodernism as a Philosophy of
Education
• Axiology – The postmodernists rejection of
metaphysical systems and the analytical tools
they use examine the language of dominant
and suppressed groups reveal much about
their views of ethics and aesthetics.
• Postmodernists reject the Idealist, Realist,
and Thomist metaphysical claims that there
are universal and eternal values that
prescribe and proscribe ethical and moral
actions.
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Postmodernism as a Philosophy of
Education
• Logic – In terms of logic, Postmodernists
advise that we take a careful look at what
is stated to be logical or illogical.
• For example, the general premise that “a
woman, by her nature, is to be a wife and
mother” leads to a conclusion that it is
illogical for a right-thinking woman to
choose to be something other than a wife
and mother.
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Postmodernism’s Educational
Implications
• Postmodernism is highly suspicious of
metanarratives in education, especially the
so-called great works of Aristotle, Plato,
Aquinas, Rousseau, Pestalozzi and others
who purport to speak in a universal voice
for educational goals and purposes.
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SUMMARY CHAPTER 8
Defining Postmodernism
Situating Postmodernism
Why Study Postmodernism?
Postmodernism as a Philosophy of Education
- Metaphysics
- Epistemology
- Axiology
- Logic
Postmodernism’s Educational Implications