5 Approaches In Postmodern Philosophy, That Oppose Traditional Modernist Episteme

Postmodern philosophers have argued, that traditional modernist episteme are inadequate to the understanding of a technological, late-capitalist society. However, as many scholars have noted, the adoption of a postmodern perspective is most unlikely to lead to any actual political or social change.

The apparent skepticism of postmodern philosophy should be understood in a hegemonic, not a skeptical, context. In other words, it is a philosophy that is willing to acknowledge and examine its own hegemonic structures of knowledge and belief as they relate to a given social situation.

As a result, while many of its proponents may or may not be intentionally constructing a "grand narrative" out of their observations of the world, many of its practitioners are, to some degree, beholden to a hegemonic paradigm, that is functioning as the foundation for knowledge in a given domain.

The following are five examples of theories and approaches in postmodern philosophy that oppose traditional modernist episteme, as they relate to race, gender, sexuality, class, and the environment.

Race

The most obvious and easily acknowledged example of a hegemonic concept in a postmodern context is that of "race." As a concept, race is a set of social constructs that are used to explain and justify social phenomena. As a metaphor, race designates a set of human biological traits, that are seen as defining a group of people in a given context and as a trope, race designates a set of characteristics ascribed to the group members in order to reinforce a given social hierarchy.

There are two primary ways in which race is used to construct social hierarchy. The first and most obvious is that race designates those, who are part of the "superior" group and those who are not are designated as "inferior." This is a basic way in which society differentiates between the "ruling class" and the "proletariat," between the "masters" and the "slaves" of society.

The second, more subtle way in which race is used to reinforce a social hierarchy is through the production and circulation of racial stereotypes and caricatures. Racist stereotypes promote and propagate a climate of fear and hatred toward racialized groups, and they serve to justify and protect the social status quo. As a result, the "ruling class" is more likely to police and police-like behavior toward the "inferior" races and the institution of slavery becomes a permanent aspect of "ruling class" mentality. There are, of course, countless stereotypes and caricatures, and the "ruling class" is constantly producing and reproducing new variations of these caricatures to maintain its power.

The concept of race therefore plays a dual role in the social construction of knowledge and the reproduction of social hierarchy. On the one hand, "race" is a useful metaphor for the way, that the human social landscape is "divided" between powerful, "superior" groups and weak, "inferior" groups. This metaphor provides a simple way to talk about complicated social questions and it allows for easy moral judgments and condemnations of entire groups of people. On the other hand, as the social landscape is in fact deeply hierarchically and morally stratified, traditional notions of "race" can be used to both validate and reproduce this structure of social inequality.

"Race" is a hegemonic concept, and like all hegemonic concepts, it functions as the "common sense" of a given field (in this case, sociology). Any alternative views of the social world are either ignored or condemned as a form of "cultural imperialism." In other words, postmodern philosophy and sociology tend to reproduce, rather than question, traditional notions of race.

Gender

The modernist concept of "gender" can be described as a "structured openness" in which the identity of the individual is determined by that of their social role. In other words, as a given social role is defined for each individual, it then becomes that individuals "identity." This notion of identity is then used to justify the social roles that individual play within a given society.

As such, the concept of "gender" can function as a hegemonic concept. Specifically, it can be used to "justify" social roles and structures, that are designed to benefit some groups of individuals over others. For example, in a society in which men are accorded more status than women, the individual man is likely to be defined as the "ideal" human being, while the woman is viewed as the "ideal" mother.

The notion of "gender" also plays a role in the production of gender stereotypes, which influence how gender is socially constructed for each individual. For example, the modernist notion of "masculinity" is largely constructed through the social perceptions of those who have the role of men. As a result, masculinity is both a social performance and a set of gendered behaviors and traits, that are valued and rewarded within a given culture.

The postmodern concept of "gender" goes beyond traditional modernist notions of "binary" and "oppositions," and, instead, "engages with" the question of how individuals and groups of individuals are "situated." This is a difficult notion to grasp, but it can perhaps be understood in terms of a "gendering of power" in which men are positioned over women, or "superior" over "inferior." This is not to say that men are always the "ruling class," or that women are necessarily the "proletariat." It is, instead, to suggest that there is a connection between those who command power and those who are commanded.

Sexuality

The concepts of "masculinity" and "femininity" are used to describe and organize human sexuality in ways that are often crudely "naturalistic" in intent. However, this is a decidedly modernist approach to the question of human sexuality, and the "naturalization" of the categories reflects a complex discourse and history.

For example, the modernist concept of "masculinity" was largely produced by the male members of the upper class in the Western world, and the concept of "femininity" was subsequently used to "reconstruct" women who were seen as lacking in appropriate "masculinity." Similarly, the notion of "homosexuality" is used to describe those, who engage in acts that are allegedly "unnatural." That is, homosexuality is a social construct, that is produced and policed by the heterosexual majority, and those who are "different" are seen as lesser versions of the dominant, "natural" human being.

The concept of "nature" is also important here, as it is used to both "prove" the natural order of things and to justify deviations from that order. For example, the notion of "natural" procreation is used to suggest, that women are merely vessels for the delivery of an "innate," biological, child. Conversely, the suggestion is then made that those, who fail to comply with "natural" procreation are themselves unnatural, and therefore abominations.

As with so many of the other social categories that exist to "order", maintain and justify the world, these concepts are not immune to critique. Critics have pointed out how the idea of a "natural" order to human sexuality is a relatively recent invention and one that only exists in the modernist, post-Enlightenment world. They argue, that the notion of an innate "standard" human being is a white invention and that bodies such as that of the "trans" woman are "abnormal" and exist only in relation to a narrow range of normative behavior. They further argue, that the "natural" human being is a social construct, and that being human is not some kind of "natural" state but a cultural one.

As with the other categories, such as the "race" and "gender" discussed above, it can be useful to think of this concept of "nature" and the ways in which it is deployed and understood by a given society as a kind of "superstructure", that organizes the underlying, material basis of that society.

Class

The ways in which the class system is naturalized and rationalized reflect the interests of those, who benefit from it. The postmodernist concept of "class" is used to explain and understand social outcomes and processes that are otherwise inexplicable and therefore are "given" or "inevitable."

This concept can be useful, when we are considering large-scale systems of oppression or exploitation, such as the European colonial or slave systems, or the contemporary global capitalist one. However, in considering the everyday violence that is produced by this system, there are significant problems with the concept of "class." Specifically, it ignores the material, or non-material, consequences of that violence. It also fails to consider the ways in which it is actively produced and maintained by those who are empowered within it.

For example, it is quite easy to see how the "middle-class" European colonists, who populated the New World with the help of black slaves were able to continue to maintain their standard of living in a manner not possible for their ancestors, while at the same time exploiting and oppressing the indigenous population to the degree, that they would never have been able to achieve on their own. Similarly, it is quite easy to see how the lives of the people, who are now called the "working class" are continually made worse by their place in the system, through a combination of material deprivation, social coercion, and structural violence.

The concept of "class" can therefore be deployed quite usefully in the study of these issues and should not be confused with the term "structural violence". However, it is quite a limited concept and cannot be considered a "proper" analysis of the social world.

Environment

The ways in which the natural or physical world is exploited or controlled by human beings reflects the interests of those who do so. The postmodernist concept of "nature", especially in its more "ecological" forms, is used to articulate and justify these forms of exploitation, while ignoring the "consequences" of such actions.

The natural world is seen as a resource to be exploited for human gain, rather than a living being, that is in need of defending. Natural disasters are often used as convenient excuses for man-made tragedies, such as the Katrina-style storms, that killed thousands of people in the US in the wake of the Atlantic hurricane season of 1926.

While the control of nature is important to the modernist, there is a difference between control and manipulation. Those who attempt to control nature, while they may appear to be acting in the "human interest," are really doing so at the expense of other species and of the natural world as a whole.

The concept of manipulating nature, through the use of technology, is a kind of double-edged sword. On the one hand, it can be used to produce goods and provide services, that were not previously available. On the other, it can be used to make the world work for the benefit of a small minority, to the detriment of the world at large.

The extent to which human beings are able to control their own behavior has a great deal to do with the extent to which they will be able to "survive" in the long term.

Thank you for reading.