SOC SCI H1F Lecture Notes - Lecture 17: Social Text, Scientific Revolution, Tyler Oakley

• School: UC-Irvine
• Department: Social Science
• Course: SOC SCI H1F
• Professor: William R Schonfeld

Document Summary

Instead, postmodernism stresses that all claims of truth, no matter who makes them, must be questioned because what passes for truth is socially constructed through cultural traditions and language use: o(cid:272)iet(cid:455) shapes (cid:449)hat (cid:862)t(cid:396)uth(cid:863) is th(cid:396)ough (cid:272)ultu(cid:396)e. If truth is relative, how then are we to decide what to believe: the answer from postmodernism is reliance upon pragmatism, this is how we get out of that quagmire. I(cid:374) othe(cid:396) (cid:449)o(cid:396)ds, a(cid:374) idea is (cid:862)t(cid:396)ue(cid:863) if it p(cid:396)odu(cid:272)es desi(cid:396)ed (cid:272)o(cid:374)se(cid:395)ue(cid:374)(cid:272)es: the idea works, believe in what works for you. If they get what you (cid:449)a(cid:374)t, the(cid:455)"(cid:396)e (cid:448)alid fo(cid:396) (cid:455)ou: truth is always a relative proposition, postmodernism, in summary, is, uncertainty about truths, lack of absolutes, future progress is unlikely. I(cid:374) fa(cid:272)t, (cid:373)o(cid:396)e i(cid:374)(cid:272)li(cid:374)ed to thi(cid:374)k that (cid:449)e"(cid:396)e goi(cid:374)g to ha(cid:448)e a (cid:396)e(cid:448)e(cid:396)sal a(cid:374)d a lack of progress: our rational minds cannot keep up with our problems. What happened: the luminaries from the age of enlightenment, including isaac newton, john locke,