Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 07:31:21 -0500
From: "Smith, Donald S" <Donald.S.Smith-AT-usa.xerox.com>
Subject: RE: PMC: What is Postmodernism? A Demand




Bayard Bell Wrote:

>but the issue is that postmodern philosophy is still
>coming into being, with  A Thousand Plateaus  as one of several
>philosophical experiments;

Bayard, I understand your criticism that I am over-schematizing Lyotard's
discourse by attributing it to a narrow definition of poststructuralism and
that I am over generalizing the coherence of a postmodern philosophy.  It is
difficult to resist the "modern" method of categorizing and schematizing in
order to frame understanding. Thank you for reminding me that my comments
were mired in modernity. After having studied the philosophies of critical
theory and now poststructuralism/postmodernism, and taken them to heart, my
view of reality has changed. I was once the epitome of the "enlightened"
man. Rational to a fault. However, I have found Abandoning the
metanarratives of the enlightenment liberating. It has satisfied an
intuitive feeling that I have always held that the rational was just too
neat. As you know, there are those who are threatened by the thought that
the grand metanarratives may no longer offer the legitimization necessary to
hold society together. And there are those who have used narrative
legitimization as hegemony and see postmodern thought as threatening to
their power. I prefer to see it as the potential to shift power from the few
to the many and I am looking for Lyotard to help me further understand the
present condition.