
Richard Rorty in Tehran - Thevet
https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/reading-richard-rorty-in-tehran/
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jeffreyrogers
Several years ago the phrase "post-modern neo-marxist" became prominent. Not
being familiar with post-modernism, I started reading some of the philosophers
who got lumped into this category. Of these, Rorty was the one I found myself
most sympathetic to. His writing is quite accessible and understandable to an
intelligent reader. His book, _Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity_ is probably
the best one to start with. _Achieving Our Country_ is also interesting, but
more political.

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duxup
Not trying to go off on a tangent but I feel like every time I see the term
post-modernism ... I have no idea what it means either. Then I start googling
around and it seems like it is a bucket that everything gets dumped into or
almost used like a buzzword at times.

Once I hit something that describes post-modernism and seems fairly thoughtful
and authoritative ... I don't understand it.

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anonymousDan
My vague understanding is that it implies there are no absolutes and
everything is relative. IMHO it's mostly bullshit.

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yummydummy
Honestly, this is a very deflationary interpretation of postmodernism which is
not at all what it's trying to convey

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anonymousDan
So educate me!

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TomMckenny
The term "post-modern" has become immensely overloaded so is hard to use
clearly. Obviously, the notion that "everything is relative" is even self
contradictory but is not what is meant when the term is used seriously.

It is the idea that some values are absolute and can be forced on other that
was originally being objected to. Some historical cases are obvious others are
still ambiguous. Thus a debate is interesting.

Likewise, inside our society we have crucial rights justified as being
"endowed by our creator". We would need to justify these values on something
stronger than a particular theology to explain their universality. So again,
discussion is worthwhile. I believe raising this point is what caused a ruckus
in Iran.

But yes, the term "post-modern" has made it's way into pop culture and is so
widely used it is often hard to figure out what the speaker means by it.
Better would be specifically referencing "Rorty's ideas" which I am certain
you would find coherent and very intriguing. Rorty was most definitely not in
Iran to say "theology is as good as democracy".

