One of the contradictions of postmodern philosophy is that, despite asserting that all viewpoints are subjective, and seeming, therefore, to concede the redundancy of even its own authority, it still parades importantly with clinking jargon and rumbling theories.

If our future lives are contained by laws, then it is by the solid laws of physics, not the shaky ones of social philosophers. Their theories are significant, but only by way of the impressions that they create and the moods that such impressions reinforce.

Endemic moods can exert a cloying grip on individual's lives but not the inescapable totalitarian grip that is insinuated by the concept of a postmodern condition, restricting us to a postmodern world.

One effect of postmodern relativism is the moral support that it has provided for licentious populism. Such populism has always managed an admirably healthy and independent living before, but the patronage of academic ideas seems to have encouraged a flabby self-satisfaction, and a  sneering scepticism towards any aspiration to intellectual health and fitness.

This sneering however, is not devoid of justification; those who boast intellectual health should indeed be subjected to an examination.

The human psyche, of course, plays with reality, but sometimes the play is gentle, while at other times it contorts it more violently.

That which claims to be an ultimate expression of healthy reason can be merely the construction of an obsessive desire for intellectual authority, or the neat display resulting from the compulsive clearing of wild complexity, or, quite commonly, it is no more than the fevered ramblings of social competitiveness.

But there are remedies, possibly first and foremost is simply the awareness of the problem, and then, perhaps, the nutritional qualities of empathy and  humility can help, and maybe, also, the therapy of good will, good humour and worthwhile discussion.

Although perfect health is unlikely to be achieved, it is surely possible to be healthy enough to discharge ourselves from postmodernism's invalidity ward of intellectual futility and terminal scepticism.

The pervasive postmodern attitude is that perception, thought and communication are not just flawed, but hopelessly so, but it is claimed that by dissolving them in a cauldron of ironic simulation a type of gold can be produced.

An alternative approach is that perception, thought and communication are flawed but, with care, are serviceable, and if they can be made to function well, then they create worth without the need for any alchemy.

It would be foolish to try and prescribe some ideal of right-mindedness; people's goals in life are legitimately diverse. My unfriendly shove against postmodernism's bulk is an attempt to defend some space for the view that observation can be accurate, communication can be clear, people can connect, problems can be solved, and in this way, life can be richer, and the future, better.   
C P Robinson, March 2009


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