Postmodernism holds that truth claims are really bids for political power
Evidence
Here we arrive at the second thesis of postmodernism: that any profession of truth is nothing more than a reflection of the political ideology of the person who is making it. Michel Foucault’s idea was that our societal life is defined by language, but language itself is shot through with the relations of power and dominance. This means that at base all knowledge claims are really just an assertion of authority; they are a bullying tactic used by the powerful to force those who are weaker to accept their ideological views. Since there is no such thing as “truth,” anyone who claims to “know” something is really just trying to oppress us, not educate us. Having power allows us to control what is true, not the other way around. If there are many perspectives, then insisting that we accept any particular one is a form of fascism. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 248
Categorization
- DEFINE: A compact statement of what the author presents as the second thesis of postmodernism (truth claims as power assertions).
- XREF: Connects to Foucauldian power/knowledge claims encountered in earlier chapters of Along the Archival Grain and Communication as Culture. — connects to: Postmodernist premises applied to politics yield post-truth reality denial — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 292; Postmodern discourse makes all cultural positions secretly political, except the overtly political; The post-truth problem’s roots trace directly to academic postmodernism — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 241 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Postmodernist premises applied to politics yield post-truth reality denial
#expands(0.90) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 292 - Postmodern interpretive relativism, once applied to politics, licenses alternative facts
#expands(0.90) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 293 - Postmodern discourse makes all cultural positions secretly political, except the overtly political
#expands(0.85) - Effective discourse that organizes power relations constitutes a regime of truth.
#expands(0.85) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 591 - Truth is produced socially through power-sanctioned mechanisms of validation.
#expands(0.85) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 590 - Each society has a regime of truth that determines what counts as true
#expands(0.85) - The post-truth problem’s roots trace directly to academic postmodernism
#contradicts(0.80) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 241 - Debates over postmodernism are fundamentally political judgments about capitalism.
#corroborates(0.80) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 174 - Postmodern constitutional thought marks a shift from truth to meaning.
#exemplifies(0.80) — Philip Chase Bobbitt, Reflections Inspired by My Critics, 874 - Postmodernism treats consensus itself as an illusion produced by discourse
#corroborates(0.80)