The Roots of our Discontent

Political disagreements these days seem particularly intractable for all sorts of reasons, but among them are radically conflicting ideas about the possibility of truth; application of reason and existence of universal truth. 

For example, we might differ on whether history or human experience can be known in a universal way, or whether only particularisms matter. .

That, in turn, is a difference of opinion about whether “nature” is subjective or objective.  Some consider "truth" to be shaped by language, culture, and power structures, leading to a variety of perspectives, all equally valid. Others essentially argue that objective and universal truths do exist, independent of our personal beliefs. 

Postmodernists argue that language shapes our understanding of reality, hence the importance of words and “names.

Likewise, some might contend that objectivity is an illusion. Others argue objectivity is necessary and obtainable to a substantial degree. Adherents of the former tend to believe that all knowledge is influenced by personal, cultural, and historical contexts. Those who take the latter view believe there is a difference between shared “reality” and individual beliefs. 

Some value diversity, plurality, and the coexistence of multiple viewpoints above shared common values, unity the necessity of choice among competing ideas. 

In other words, many embrace “Postmodernism” while others operate within the intellectual context of the Enlightenment. 

The rancor, hatred, bad manners and absolutism we often see in politics is rooted in fundamentally different universes of thought. 

Thinker	Enlightenment, Postmodernist Thinkers	Key Contributions	Key Works
René Descartes	Enlightenment	Rationalism, methodic doubt, "Cogito, ergo sum"	Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)
John Locke	Enlightenment	Empiricism, natural rights, social contract	Two Treatises of Government (1689)
Voltaire	Enlightenment	Freedom of speech, religious tolerance	Candide (1759)
Montesquieu	Enlightenment	Separation of powers, political theory	The Spirit of the Laws (1748)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau	Enlightenment	General will, social contract theory	The Social Contract (1762)
Immanuel Kant	Enlightenment	Critique of reason, moral autonomy	Critique of Pure Reason (1781)
David Hume	Enlightenment	Empiricism, skepticism, critique of causation	An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (1748)
Adam Smith	Enlightenment	Free market economics, "invisible hand" theory	The Wealth of Nations (1776)
Mary Wollstonecraft	Enlightenment	Women's rights, gender equality	A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
Denis Diderot	Enlightenment	Editor of the Encyclopédie, promoter of knowledge	Encyclopédie (1751–1772)
Jacques Derrida	Postmodernism	Deconstruction, critique of language	Of Grammatology (1967)
Michel Foucault	Postmodernism	Power/knowledge, discourse, social institutions	Discipline and Punish (1975)
Jean-François Lyotard	Postmodernism	Critique of meta-narratives, postmodern condition	The Postmodern Condition (1979)
Jean Baudrillard	Postmodernism	Hyperreality, simulacra, media theory	Simulacra and Simulation (1981)
Richard Rorty	Postmodernism	Pragmatism, rejection of objective truth	Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (1979)
Fredric Jameson	Postmodernism	Cultural theory, analysis of late capitalism	Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991)
Julia Kristeva	Postmodernism	Psychoanalysis, semiotics, feminist theory	Powers of Horror (1980)