Date: Wed, 22 Nov 1995 11:59:08 -0700
From: Lisa Rogers <eqwq.lrogers-AT-email.state.ut.us>
Subject:  one aspect of "modernity"


Somebody here was asking for a definition of modernity, and I have
wondered too;  here's one I ran into on Science-as-Culture list that
makes some sense to me.  Post-modern then implies a rejection of
"scientism" / critique of science.
Lisa

>>> Andrew Barfield <andyman-AT-SAKURA.CC.TSUKUBA.AC.JP>  11/22/95

'The grand narrative of progress, where the development of scientific
knowledge supposedly results in the emancipation of humanity, is most
clearly associated with the project of modernity.  Here scientific
knowledge replaces myths, beliefs and superstition by discovering the
'truth' of the world.
Science becomes the guarantor and route to truth and emancipation.The
emancipation of humanity thus requires that people are given access
to scientific knowledge, since the condition of their emanicpation is
that they live subject to the 'laws' uncovered by science. ... the
educational programme which is legitimised here focuses on primary
education as a condition for initial schooling of everyone into
science  ...

(Usher and Edwards  (1994) Postmodernism and Education
London:  Routledge pp 172-173)

What strikes me is - and I am not trying to be trite or anti-science
- that with the increasing privatisation of education, and therefore
the privatisation of access to knowledge, knowledge becomes something
to be bought ... hence, over the last couple of decades, a demand has
been created for populist interpretations of science ... such that
the market for such populist readings is now not only huge but also
one way in which we can buy into an 'educated' life-style
...construct an 'educated' identity ... differentiate ourselves by
'education' not class ... so, while this may be a new trend in
science, it seems also to be an effect of wider social and economic
change ...

Andy




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