Postmodernism’s self-definition depends on an inadequate account of what it opposes.

Evidence

Postmodernism in its various manifestations defines itself by contrast with Modernist art and more generally with the ‘modern age’ which we have supposedly now left behind us. The main thrust of this chapter has been negative - to demonstrate both the weight attached by postmodernists to Postmodern art and their inability to come up with a plausible and coherent account of its distinguishing characteristics. The reader might, however, quite reasonably demand a positive account of the nature of modernity and of the Modernist art which is presumably its critical reflex. I attempt to meet this demand in chapter 2, and to do so in a way that, unlike the postmodernist theories critically surveyed in this chapter, gives its proper due to the historical specificity of the phenomena under examination. — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 134

Categorization

• SEED: The rhetorical move — a critique that is purely negative then demands a positive definition of modernity — sketches an essay structure on how to critique a school of thought on its own terrain.
• XREF: connects to: Postmodern thinking defines itself by taboos against propositions and primary statements. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 839; Debates over postmodernism structurally require an opposing modernist position; Postmodernism theory cannot produce a stable inside-outside position for its own observers (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Postmodern thinking defines itself by taboos against propositions and primary statements. #expands (0.85) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 839
• Postmodernism can only be defined relative to the equally confused term modernism #corroborates (0.82) — David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity, 92
• Postmodernism theory cannot produce a stable inside-outside position for its own observers #expands (0.80)
• Debates over postmodernism structurally require an opposing modernist position #corroborates (0.78)
• Postmodernism arises when its defining adversary, bourgeois morality, vanishes #expands (0.75) — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 226