Lecture 6: Postmodernity, cont.

Question 1

How does postmodernity regard truth?

Answer 1

Truth is identified with whatever feels to be true, since truth is an experience.

Question 2

Whose beliefs laid the foundation for emotivism?

Answer 2

David Hume

Question 3

Define relativism.

Answer 3

The belief that no objective truth exists. Truth may be real and different for different people.

Question 4

Define consequentialism.

Answer 4

An ethical system asserting ends justify means. Acting in the way that promotes your best interests is the ethical good.

Question 5

Give a strength of deconstruction.

Answer 5

It challenges us to acknowledge that ideas put forth as fact are actually interpretations, and we need not accept the majority view fed to us.

Question 6

Define hyper-reality.

Answer 6

An idea that celebrates words and images bearing no relation to reality and are just reflections of other images. The hyper-real is reality as we would like to construct it.

Question 7

What does postmodernity say with respect to reality?

Answer 7

Reality is just a human construct that we cannot step outside of, and there is no fixed and shared reality. However, these constructs can still be useful.

Question 8

Define idealism.

Answer 8

Any philosophy that acknowledges a difference between reality and appearances, including Kant and Hume.

Question 9

Who argued that scientific knowledge is affected by paradigm shifts, where reality is reconstructed based on different social viewpoints?

Answer 9

Thomas Kuhn

Question 10

Who is associated with deconstruction?

Answer 10

Jacques Derrida

Question 11

How can Christianity benefit from the postmodern rejection of metanarratives?

Answer 11

Postmodernity calls for everyone to acknowledge their personal creeds or faith in their beliefs. Since everyone has faith commitments, including scientists, Christianity cannot be marginalized for them.

Question 12

Who argued for minimalist government that should maintain order and not coerce people into beliefs?

Answer 12

John Locke

Question 13

Give a Christian-specific criticism of the postmodern lack of respect for metanarratives.

Answer 13

Scripture provides the fullest and best metanarrative for understanding the world.

Question 14

Define perspectivalism/subjectivism.

Answer 14

The belief that there is no single vantage point where reality can be observed and objective truth can be discovered. We construct the world bringing our concepts to it, rather than encountering it as it is.

Question 15

Where does postmodernity argue that the meaning of a text lies?

Answer 15

The reader brings the meaning to the text. What we find or read into the text is what matters.

Question 16

Define metanarrative.

Answer 16

Literally, “big story.” An overarching, comprehensive story that attempts to explain how the world works. They attempt to give an account of reality and our place in history.

Question 17

Define emotivism.

Answer 17

Our emotions form the basis for ethical beliefs, and what we call good is defined by how we feel about it rather than objective good or bad. Emotions can motivate people to act in ways that moral reasoning cannot.

Question 18

Give a criticism of the postmodern lack of belief in strict reality.

Answer 18

We need rules and orderliness in order to function as society (rules, doctors, instruction manuals presupposing trying to communicate something specific).

Question 19

How does postmodernity regard metanarratives?

Answer 19

Postmodernity finds metanarratives untenable when they are developed from supposedly universal reason.

Question 20

Define pluralism.

Answer 20

The celebration of the diversity in the various world religions and their understandings of God or the divine.

Question 21

Give two examples of hyper-reality.

Answer 21

• Movies inspired by theme parks or videogames (which is more real?)
• Animatronic animals in Disneyland

Question 22

Define utilitarianism.

Answer 22

An ethical system seeking to bring the greatest good to the greatest number of people. Actions are morally right if they lead to happiness and morally wrong if they lead to pain.

Question 23

Define deconstruction.

Answer 23

The postmodern idea of taking something apart or breaking it down into pieces. It emphasizes that everything must be interpreted.

Question 24

List negative aspects of postmodernism for apologetics.

Answer 24

• Lack of belief in any strict reality

- Lack of respect towards metanarratives

Question 25

Give a general criticism of the postmodern lack of respect for metanarratives.

Answer 25

We need metanarratives to give our lives meaning and to explain the world. We seek a sense of purpose and direction in our lives.

Question 26

List positive aspects of postmodernism for apologetics.

Answer 26

• Openness to ideas and others’ perspectives
• Humility in acknowledging limited access to reality
• No need for strict rationality
• More acceptance of mysteriousness

Question 27

How does postmodernity turn the view of science on its head?

Answer 27

It believes that science first starts with ideas (not observations), and then makes observations from that point of view.