52
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What factors led to the widespread popularity of nihilism in the 21st century?
While I'm not entirely convinced of the premises of the question, in general people seek out philosophies that address conditions of life as they experience it. In the marketplace of ideas, a ...
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41
votes
What factors led to the widespread popularity of nihilism in the 21st century?
I can think of 2 reasons:
Naturalism is the philosophy most promoted in public schools. With some exceptions, people tend to stick with what they're taught in school. Believing in a supernatural ...
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25
votes
Accepted
Why so much hate for postmodernism?
Here are three reasons (there may be more):
The Analytic/Continental divide (some might say feud - see here for example): At the beginning of the 20th Century, two schools (or more accurately, two ...
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18
votes
What factors led to the widespread popularity of nihilism in the 21st century?
Jacob Ross, Rejecting Ethical Deflationism,' Ethics 116, 2006: 742–68 defines nihilism as :
▻ NIHILISM - DEFINITION
'...the view that the notions of good and bad and of right and wrong are ...
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16
votes
Accepted
Can someone identify this school of thought?
The first sentence expresses relativism, and then the rest makes clear that it makes everything relative to the individual subject. That position is called solipsism. Solipsism makes the individual ...
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12
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Why are French postmodern philosophers (like Baudrillard) so hard to read/understand?
John Searle apparently asked Michel Foucault, and Pierre Bourdieu, why they wrote so badly. (Apparently they were both much clearer in conversation or when lecturing, and Searle respected them both ...
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12
votes
Accepted
What are some theories attacking postmodernism preserving objective truth and morality without assuming a God?
Short Answer
How can one argue against postmodernism for objective truth and morality without assuming a God?
Post-modernist claims of pure subjectivism are largely hype. It's has been joked that a ...
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12
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Does postmodern philosophy abandon the pursuit of “ultimate questions"? If so, how do people develop values without it?
I think this question carries a fundamental misunderstanding of modern (post-Hegelian) philosophy in general and (noting that I dislike this term) postmodernist philosophy in particular. So it's worth ...
- 24.2k
10
votes
Do postmodernists insist that "laws of physics" are "mere social conventions"? Or not anymore?
One of the major dysfunctions of the science wars in the '90s was that people were using terms to yell at each other — social construction, relativism, postmodernism, paradigm, theory, science, fact, ...
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7
votes
Why so much hate for postmodernism?
I'll try to offer a brief sketch that moves from what I take to be "overarching" (more inclusive) complaints to more specific ones. Please keep in mind that I am, personally, very dissatisfied by most ...
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7
votes
Accepted
Is there a relation between postmodernism and Asian philosophies?
Several thoughts on this
(1) It would help a lot if "relation" were defined more clearly. Do you mean "share similar ideas"? Do you mean that one learned from the other? Do you mean they organize the ...
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7
votes
Accepted
Why is postmodernism apparently so ill-perceived in philosophy of science?
For many people, Kuhn's notion of the incommensurability of paradigms is a form of postmodernism. So then there is not a conflict, the Philosophy of Science has notable post-modern contributors, who ...
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7
votes
Why is the non-aesthetic position on art not absorbed by society?
In your question, you lay out some qualities someone who accepts the non-aesthetic position on art might have.
An artist who is non-aesthetic is not concerned with producing something the majority of ...
- 3,967
6
votes
Accepted
What is postanalytic philosophy?
Wikipedia has an article titled postanalytic philosophy with the names of Quine, Davidson, Putnam, and Rorty given as examples. But I have not seen the term used much at all lately, it appears to be ...
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6
votes
What are some theories attacking postmodernism preserving objective truth and morality without assuming a God?
To summarize an answer that became lengthier than I first intended:
The woke and the fascists are both trying to bring about societal change away from the status quo as they see it. In that regard, ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Does Foucault's "power-knowledge" contradict the scientific method?
Foucault understood knowledge not merely to be disinterested enquiry but also a way of exerting power. Here, he's not talking about the power to inform or educate but the kind of power that places ...
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6
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to reconcile post-structuralism with the scientific method?
Clearly, we understand the world through language
If by this you mean we understand the world only through language, this is not clear at all. In fact, it is false, because it entirely discounts the ...
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6
votes
Does postmodern philosophy abandon the pursuit of “ultimate questions"? If so, how do people develop values without it?
Does postmodern philosophy abandon the pursuit of “ultimate questions"? If so, how do people develop values without it?
Absolutely. In radical forms, "ultimate questions" make no sense ...
- 35.6k
5
votes
Postmodernism advocates are Right-wing or just can't see its effects against the Left?
I admittedly lack a solid grounding in philosophy and likely some problems with postmodernist thought escape me. I am however one of those leftists who has no huge, general problem with all of ...
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5
votes
What factors led to the widespread popularity of nihilism in the 21st century?
This answer is just speculation
Why it is popular:
People enjoy it. They can act how ever they please because immorality is impossible. It also makes them feel intellectually superior with no more ...
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5
votes
Does postmodernism entail nihilism?
Postmodernism is an abstraction. There are only postmodern theorists; and if we look at the major postmodern theorists we find a definite, non-nihilistic ethical dimension to their work. The following ...
- 36.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Does the postmodern rejection of "Grand Narratives" have anything to do with "First Principles" argumentation?
Yes and no, postmodernism certainly embraced the rejection of "first principles" and perhaps elevated it to a new level, but this rejection was neither originated by it nor is specific to it. ...
- 44.2k
5
votes
How do structuralism and post-structuralism change the way I read a novel?
Structuralism and post-structuralism is, roughly speaking, a distinction without a difference, so we can look at them together.
In your question, you state:
From a naive point of view, these ideas ...
- 25k
5
votes
Does Foucault's "power-knowledge" contradict the scientific method?
Consider for a moment the current Climate Change debate (or the somewhat older debate over the Theory of Evolution). In both cases, both the scientific and non-scientific side are simultaneously ...
- 24.2k
5
votes
What were Jacques Derrida's most important ideas?
Derrida is known for his commentaries on Heidegger, so his one on Being & Time is notable: Heidegger: The Question of Being and History.
Also a significant work imo is The Gift of Death, referred ...
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5
votes
Why is the non-aesthetic position on art not absorbed by society?
It's important to note that there do exist artists doing new and innovative things in art, and theorists are still creating new theories. But in general, your question is in some ways its own answer. ...
- 30.7k
4
votes
Why so much hate for postmodernism?
I think a lot of this "hate" could arise from an intuition about the fundamental incongruity of saying there is no such thing as justified true belief, and ascribing any truth value to that judgement. ...
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