Philosophy of the 20th and 21st Centuries

Philosophy of Postmodernism

Contemporary philosophy employs the concept of postmodernism to denote a distinctive mode of philosophical inquiry that is content-axiologically distanced not only from classical but also from non-classical traditions, establishing itself as a form of post-contemporary or post-non-classical philosophy. The term "postmodernism" was first used by R. Ranvit in his book The Crisis of European Culture, published in 1917. Despite its efforts to distance itself from the positions of classical and non-classical philosophical traditions, the postmodern program of contemporary philosophy is genetically rooted in the non-classical mode of thought, such as that of F. Nietzsche, and also encompasses trends from poststructuralism, structural psychoanalysis, existentialism, and the philosophy of dialogue.

It is useful to highlight the paradigmatic features of postmodernism:

• Multidimensionality (aesthetic, political, philosophical);
• Polyvariability (liberation from subjectivity).

Based on these features, the main traits of postmodernism can be defined as follows:

• Reconstruction of the traditional metaphysical paradigm;
• Replacement of vertical and hierarchical connections with horizontal and rhizomatic ones;
• Knowledge as a whole cannot be reduced to science or cognition;
• The "virtuality" of the postmodern world and the phenomenon of "double presence."

These aspects explain the worldview advocated by postmodern philosophy. It is characterized by lines of articulation and fragmentation, strata and territorialities, but at the same time, it also values lines of evasion, movements of deterritorialization, and destratification. The dominant feature of this worldview is multiplicity, which, attaining a substantive character, forms various kinds of machines (military, political, social, productive, etc.).

Postmodernist authors view postmodernism as a unique mental state prevailing in all areas of human activity (culture, philosophy, politics, economics, etc.). They seek to adequately understand the current existential situation in which European civilization finds itself after landmark events symbolized by Auschwitz, Hiroshima, and Chernobyl. Under such crisis conditions, postmodernism offers a non-Eurocentric perspective on the position of our civilization in the world it has created. It stimulates the reconstruction of Eurocentric totalitarian social, economic, political, scientific-technical, and spiritual structures, searching for new models of planetary coexistence and its forthcoming transformations.

Postmodernists aim to find answers to philosophical questions related to the prospects of preserving post-totalitarian sociality inherited from the modern era. Hence, postmodernism begins where the whole, the total, ends. Therefore, wherever attempts at re-totalization are observed, postmodernism stands in opposition.

In the theory of J. Deleuze and F. Guattari, postmodern culture stands in direct opposition to traditional culture. They rejected previous philosophical and cultural traditions, believing that culture should be based on a single principle, with knowledge growing from a single metaphysical principle akin to Descartes' tree. They opposed this symbol of the tree with the rhizome (rootstock), which becomes the symbol of a new type of culture, and unlike classical notions of hierarchical roots, trunks, and branches, captures connections in terms of heterogeneity, multiplicity, and equality.

Postmodernism denies identity, which changes through difference and repetition. "The modern world is a world of simulacra. In it, humanity does not experience God, the identity of the subject, or the identity of substance. All identities are merely simulated, arising as optical effects of a deeper play—play of difference and repetition. We want to understand difference itself and in relation to difference rather than similarity, regardless of the forms of representation that reduce them to similarity."

One of the characteristic features of postmodernism is its dissolution of the boundary between objective and subjective reality. This is primarily manifested in the assertion, as noted by D. Bell, that "text does not reflect reality, but creates a new reality, even many realities, often independent of each other. Postmodernism is the history of the creation and interpretation of texts. How can reality arise here... Reality simply does not exist. If you will, there are different virtual realities."

In postmodern ontology and epistemology, the principle of uncertainty is a central concept, defining the pluralistic perception of the world. This is evident in the fact that different worldviews can coexist within a single individual's perspective, often appearing in an eclectic form.

The transition of society from a modern to a postmodern worldview consequently involves a change in one value system to another, leading to global shifts in human consciousness. "Today, there is a shift in the intention of understanding religious phenomena, changing thematic and conceptual orientations of religious communities... The view of religion formed in the modern era is receding. At first glance, it might seem that postmodernism, unlike traditional secular humanism, somewhat restores the rights of religion by rejecting the old humanist cult of science and rationality."

Postmodernism posits that any individual fundamentally cannot know the answers to questions, as truth by its nature is extraordinarily complex and cannot be conveyed in conceptual terms. Thus, explaining aspects of this extremely complex world requires something beyond reason.

As a worldview phenomenon, postmodernism significantly impacts the nature of religion's role in society by:

• Deepening the process of losing transcendence in human existence through the possibility of integrating multiple, even opposing, worldviews;
• Promoting religious free thought while simultaneously losing blind trust in the content of doctrinal religious institutions;
• Breaking with Christian values as phenomena of European order, leading to the de-Christianization of religion;
• Developing a new type of religiosity lacking the concept of God, and increasing the number of believers outside the church;
• Promoting the "electronic church," which acts as a factor in the individualization of religious life;
• Shifting believers' focus from moral values to material ones;
• Expanding charismatic cults with a clearly expressed optimistic character.

One of the main directions of postmodern philosophy is the study of the humanities, aiming to uncover and understand the essence and prospects of contemporary social transformations and processes, creating futurological forecasts regarding societal development within the coordinates of globalization, informatization, and virtualization. This is unsurprising, as the postmodern worldview lacks any system of priorities and rigid structuring of reality, rejecting hierarchical order. The totalizing discourse of modernity is replaced by a cult of plurality and fragmentation, acknowledging endless changes and differences, and the conviction that reality cannot be described using linear terms.

Postmodern philosophy seeks to reconstruct the basic tenets of structuralism regarding the role and essence of structure and to demonstrate that the latter cannot claim unconditional priority in the generation of meaning. Meaning is only produced within a textual continuum, which is chaotic, unstructured, and decentralized. Hence, this textual context is fundamentally unstable and is in a constant whirl between activity and passivity, "entanglement" (J. Derrida). The unpredictability of the textual space legitimizes the capacity for the permanent generation of new versions of meaning, creation of new value systems, and new semantic formations, as R. Barthes noted, signifiers enter into an infinite game and can produce multiple meanings with the same word.

The turn of the millennium directs philosophical discourse toward seeking new paradigms of thought, inventing unconventional solutions that meet the demands of contemporary times. This results in a return to fundamental philosophical problems addressed through the lens of modernity: the status and specifics of philosophy, the relationship between philosophy and metaphysics, the rational and irrational, and so forth. Great attention is given to the social dimension of philosophical knowledge, which is driven by the idea of communication, i.e., the interaction of people as the foundation of social reality and the starting point of philosophy. The dominant feature of modern social philosophy is value pluralism, the development of categories such as justice, responsibility, and legitimacy, as U. Beck asserts, we live in a "risk society," where any actions aimed at the common good (increasing labor productivity, expanding knowledge, developing new technologies, etc.) paradoxically work against humanity, leading to "collective self-damage." The most horrific consequence of this societal state is that in the event of an ecological or nuclear disaster, there will be no one left to save.

Words no longer perform the function of referencing an object expressed by them; they become indicators, markers, thus their status does not allow associating with them concepts whose content is ensured by denotation.

It is well known that modernization is not the same as modernism in the conventional sense of the term. Modernization represents a process of renewal across all spheres of social existence, which does not always maintain a stable theoretical and ideological position, often characterized by relativism (primarily social) seeking to improve anything subjected to skeptical criticism (criticism opposing critical thinking). The contemporary process of modernization is directly related to the philosophical situation of postmodernism, which is supposedly the next stage after modernism (but it should be emphasized that modernization and modernism are not homogeneous phenomena in theoretical thought). Reality shows that modernization encompasses postmodernism itself, driven by the denial of truth, the pursuit of establishing polyvariability (which often cannot avoid contradictions from the perspective of social-philosophical content of globalization—the single world is based on multiple disparate truths, eclecticism becomes the theoretical foundation for forming a unified worldview), theories, and concepts. Polyvariability falls into the classical paradox of set theory but continues to develop within the framework of formal logic, as the dialectical method is unacceptable to postmodernism and sometimes even detrimental.

In fact, postmodernism in theoretical terms can be viewed as "globalization" in the realm of theoretical thinking. The phenomena produced by postmodernism (such as postmodernization analogous to modernization) become the theoretical basis for constructing "information societies," "technotronic societies," "electronic colleges," etc. Despite their utopian nature, these concepts vigorously oppose not only contemporary social realities but are also presented as logical consequences of the historical development of social relations. Within these "mental constructs" of social reality, the pluralism of both theoretical and actual discourses is manifested, the lines of opposition become lines of coexistence and synergies of multiple heterogeneities.

The complex epistemological, social, and philosophical problems associated with the process of postmodernization highlight the need for developing new perspectives and strategies in the study of contemporary civilization and its evolution.