HLT 302 Grand Canyon Topic 1 Discussion 2

Based on your reading of the GCU Introduction and the textbooks, what is the main difference between the modern Western worldview and the postmodern worldview? Which parts, if any, do you identify with? Explain. Cite references from your reading to support your answer.

 

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The difference between the modern Western worldview and the postmodern worldview

Introduction

In the postmodern worldview, there are no universal truths. This means that we cannot trust Western governments and authorities, we can only trust ourselves. In our postmodern worldview, there is no God or gods, just humans trying to make sense of things in their own way. We tend to think of things like gender and race as fixed categories; these categories change over time through socialization and education. Scientific knowledge is on par with religious beliefs — they’re all just human-created ideas!

In the modern worldview, we have a belief in universal truths that apply to everyone and everything.

In the modern worldview, we have a belief in universal truths that apply to everyone and everything. We believe that there are universal laws of morality, science, and history that apply to us all.

In contrast, the postmodern worldview believes that these concepts are not always applicable or applicable at all times. Postmodernists believe these ideas are merely products of culture or society—not universal truths about humanity as a whole. They believe morality varies according to time period or location; science has no objective meaning; history is born out of cultural differences rather than universal laws; and even if we could find some kind of underlying explanation for why things happen (like evolution), it wouldn’t necessarily tell us anything about how they should be viewed today because evolution doesn’t mean anything in terms of morality anymore than gravity does!

Postmodernists believe that there is no such thing as “universal truths”.

Postmodernists believe that there is no such thing as “universal truths”. They argue that all truths are relative and that there is no such thing as a “universal truth”.

The postmodernist worldview means that you cannot trust anything you’ve ever been told before, because everything changes over time. This includes your own beliefs about yourself and the world around you.

In our postmodern worldview, we cannot trust Western governments and authorities, we can only trust ourselves.

In our postmodern worldview, we cannot trust Western governments and authorities, we can only trust ourselves. We are all responsible for our own actions and for looking after ourselves. The government cannot be trusted to look after its citizens; it is up to each individual person to take responsibility for their own lives.

In the modern worldview, we tend to think of things like gender and race as fixed categories.

• In the modern worldview, we tend to think of things like gender and race as fixed categories.

• In contrast, in the postmodern worldview, we tend to think of these concepts as fluid concepts that change over time (for example: “gender” can be a male or female identity).

• This difference is also reflected in our thinking about science: while science tends to operate within a naturalistic framework where everything can be explained by physical forces alone (e.g., gravity), many people would say that there are no hard-and-fast natural boundaries between things like men and women; instead we see an overlap between gender roles and identities—often with both being fluid at any given point in time!

In the postmodern worldview, these things are more fluid.

In the postmodern worldview, these things are more fluid. Gender isn’t just a biological category; it’s also a social construct. Race is not a biological category either; it’s also an artificial construct that can be changed through cultural and political processes (for example, by being banned from certain jobs and schools). Sexuality isn’t fixed at all—for example, if you’re born intersexed or transgender but later decide to identify as straight after transitioning into manhood/womanhood (or vice versa), then your sexual orientation has not changed at all!

The same goes for race and gender: they’re both artificial constructs with no meaning outside themselves—they exist only as part of larger systems of power relations between groups of people who have unequal access to resources like education opportunities or employment opportunities because they were born into different racial backgrounds than those around them.”

In the postmodern view, scientific knowledge is on par with religious beliefs — they’re all just human-created ideas.

The postmodern worldview is a reaction against the modernist view. Modernism holds that there are universal truths, and science can be used to help us discover these truths. Postmodernists reject this idea, instead rejecting the idea of absolute truth altogether.

Postmodernists believe that science cannot tell us anything about God or religion because they’re both human-created ideas (and therefore subjective). They also reject any idea that one way of understanding the world is better than another; instead, they believe all ways of understanding things are equally valid.

Humans are not viewed as special centres of meaning or morality in a postmodern worldview.

Postmodernists believe that there is no such thing as universal truths, and that we cannot trust Western governments and authorities. Instead, postmodernists strive to create their own moral systems based on what they think was right in the past. They also do not believe in progress towards a better world—instead, they see change as an attempt to impose a false order onto reality.

Postmodernism has become popular among academics and intellectuals because it allows them to avoid the question of “why?” when studying history; instead it focuses on how events happened rather than why or wherefore they occurred

Think about what you value about your own identity and compare it with how you think about other peoples’ identities

The postmodern worldview is not a good fit for everyone. While it can be an interesting way to think about the world, it also makes some people uncomfortable because they want to be able to trust authorities and make decisions based on facts.

If you’re interested in exploring this worldview further and want more information, I recommend checking out my book Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press).

Conclusion

In the end, we need to come back to the question of values. What do you value? How do you express it? Do you think that modern Western societies are bad because they lack certain values or institutions that are important to you? Or have we just been observing them as something other than what they actually are all along?