Explaining Postmodernism

It should be said up front that this book is a critique of postmodernism as well as an explanation. There is a tone of “postmodernism as failed project” throughout the writing, which will no doubt raise hackles among the far left and academics in the humanities, particularly in critical theory. Because postmodernism is bound to Marxist thought and to anti-capitalism, Hicks will no doubt be painted as some sort of libertarian or devotee of Ayn Rand. This may or may not be fair, though this book is much more rigorous and dispassionate than simple free market propaganda. He indeed uses examples of unsuccessful Socialist experiments, but only to illustrate how this modified philosophical thought into the postmodernism of the late 20th century.

The central theme here is the history of anti-rationalism and the lineage of the counter-enlightenment throughout continental philosophy into postmodernism. To put it very simply, the postmodernists argue that the the Enlightenment project has somehow perverted Reason to fraudulently describe a reality that cannot be described. They argue that there are only competing narratives and the West has allowed a dominant narrative of oppression and power to become ingrained in civilization. The rationalists who favor democracy, capitalism, science, and analysis would argue that nearly every prediction by the counter-enlightenment and postmodernists have not happened. This collision with history puts postmodernism on the retreat, forever modifying definitions to justify their claims.