December_3 - • Sees all knowledge as political Postmodern...

COM 204 3-Dec-09
Postmodernism—a discourse of vulnerability
• No standard practices for achieving “actual truth”
o If it works for you, great. Not necessarily what I believe though.
• No separation of signifier and signified, just signs
o Advertisements don’t mean anything, just noise and clutter.
• Tolerates multiple meanings
o Again, no true answer. What you believe is fine with me.
• Sometimes goes to excess—relativism, self-indulgence
• Studies resistance (like critical theory)
o One cause is not better than the other
• No objective scientific truths
• No “universal audience”
o Audience is always localized in time and space
• Rejects consensus as a value or a worthy goal