<A HREF="http://artforum.com/talkback/id=4136">Post-Modernism source of=
moral equivocation?</A>
by cutup, 07.14.02 10:05 am
The following is an excerpt from yesterday's article in NY Times
<A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/13/arts/13CONN.html">www.nytimes.=
com/2002/07/13/arts/13CONN.html</A> (need to register) by Edward
Rothstein.
"…Stanley Fish, postmodern provocateur and dean of the College of Liberal=
Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Chicago, begins his
defense of postmodernism… (www.gwu.edu/~ccps)…
"Clearly, Mr. Fish continues, no one has yet threatened to treat
postmodernists like traitorous Communists, but 'it's only a matter of time,=
'
he says. A new version of 'America, love it or leave it!' is in the making,=
he claims, 'and the drumbeat is growing louder.' A 'few professors of
literature, history, and sociology,' he asserts, are now being told that th=
ey
are directly responsible for 'the weakening of the nation's moral fiber' an=
d
that they are indirectly responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.=
..
"…Postmodernism — familiarly called pomo — has its roots =
in French and
German philosophy, but surely it has proven itself to be loyally
all-American. True, it has courted controversy, and has been accused of
failing to recognize self-evident moral truths and even scientific fact…a=
nd
it has been associated with pastiche, irony, relativism and iconoclasm…"=
An example being one view of a terrorist is someone else's view of a freedo=
m
fighter.
Is Pomo a danger, underminding the values of America? Has the artworld turn=
ed
its back on post-modernism?
Postmodernism challenged the absolutism and individualism of modernism, a=
welcome change..
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by John Doe, 07.14.02 01:58 pm
Postmodernism challenged the absolutism and individualism of modernism, a=
welcome change. Yes It was[did] but it also franchised the worst aspects of=
Modernism—Theory
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by Biggy, 07.14.02 04:20 pm
Postmodernism is not a proper ideology. It is intended as a kind of catch-a=
ll
phrase. If you want to criticize someone along those lines you would do
better to zero in on something like a neocolonial critique. Both Fredric
Jameson and Walt Disney might be called "postmodern."
Secondly, before we get on our high horse, let's not be so simplistic about=
modernism either. All that universalist, absolutist, essentialist stuff
critics like to associate with modernism is not as cut and dry as the
syllabus in cultural criticism 101 suggests… while the "diversity" of the=
allegedly pluralistic alternatives are largely false as well.
Finally, if this article suggest anything it is how academics like to postu=
re
and how conservatives burn straw men to rally their troops. The great irony=
is the two tendencies are complimentary.
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by tagent, 07.14.02 04:36 pm
"It beats as it sweeps as it cleans."
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by arthands, 07.14.02 07:34 pm
theres no such thing as art. only artists. academics are paid (unlike many=
artists) to posture or lose credibility. credbility=$= delusional
impact…get real. the beauty of postmoderism is inclusion of
idea,material,possibility. it signals change and difference…and the beat=
goes on.
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by tagent, 07.14.02 08:03 pm
"Call for Philip Morris!!"
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by Kubrick, 07.14.02 11:33 pm
Edward Rothstein is a major right-wing asshole, makes the snores over at th=
e
Book review look like enlightened minds. It's amazing how wrong he gets it =
so
much of the time. He's exactly the kind that Nietzsche used to skewer as th=
e
"Germans" only now he's a U of Chicago Allan Bloomie who thinks he's a
philosopher. I mean seriously. The whole Saturday section is annoying as
hell. Everything except the spirit of open thought.
Cutup: Cut the sh—. To say that "post-modern" thought equivocates m=
orally is
to fail to understand the equivocation that 19th century historicism
introduced into moral thought. If you're curious about this, just read
Nietzsche's "The Use and Liability of History." The funny thing is that his=
19th century Germany looks a lot like our 21st century USA.
Don't make generalizations about faux-historical terms whose true
underpinnings are not only entirely different from what is generally
attributed to them, but which you don't understand.
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by tagent, 07.15.02 12:13 am
"Do you want a shape like a bra? Or do you want a shape like a woman?"
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by thingsthatgo, 07.15.02 06:14 am
Pomo (is) was very much (a) part of modernism—which, for my money, =
has not
actually happened yet—a kind of 'the after' heralding in the 'forme=
r'.
From Globalization to Oikoumene
<A HREF="http://eonix.8m.com/chapsix_5.htm">eonix.8m.com/chapsix_5.htm</A=
>
????exploding line that fell back reforming itself, thicker and fainter, to=
o
broad to notice the straight line curve.
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by cutup, 07.15.02 09:08 am
Kubrick - You misunderstood my post. I never said that Post-Modernism
equivocates morally. I was just putting out Rothstein's question for
discussion, wanting to read what the reaction would be. I posted excerpts=
from his article for those who have not read it.
You confirmed what I felt about the article.
Re: Post-Modernism source of moral equivocation?
by Kubrick, 07.15.02 10:2
