The Post Modern Philosophy Won't Fly

You have probably heard about the idea that "Post Modern Philosophy" is about to take over the world of higher education. Well, don't worry, it is a bust. It just won't fly as my daddy would say.

Post Modern ideas are based on the truth that here is NO TRUTH! That we can experience "truth" as we see it and decide what is true and what is false. Well, that is baloney. Oh, yes, we all have a right to our perceptions but we do not have a Right to our facts.

Take a look at this article about a post modern journal of high repute. Should we laugh or cry?

Social Text--one of the leading journals of the postmodern movement. The article, according to the paper's abstract, was an attempt to bring the postmodern light to the rigid, scientific, and therefore, dark corridors of modern physics. The article was reviewed and accepted by the editors of the journal and appeared in the special issue alongside pieces written by some of the biggest names in the field (i.e., Sandra Harding, Steve Fuller, Dorothy Nelkin).

The theme of the issue was that science is/was only one among many equally valid ways for knowing the world--no better or more effective than say religion or myth in understanding or making predictions about the world.

The only problem was that Dr. Sokol's entire paper was a hoax--it did not contain a single intelligible thought. Indeed, Dr. Sokol had written it in an attempt to show that "our understanding of the social and humanistic side of science has come down to such inane literary babble that even the experts cannot discriminate between it and nonsense" (p. 17).

Consider the following choice bit of nonsense, "The pi of Euclid and the g of Newton, formerly thought to be constant and universal, are now perceived in their ineluctable historicity; and the putative observer becomes fatally decentered, disconnected from any epistemic link to a space-time point."

As this short excerpt shows to anyone with even a passing familiarity with postmodernism, while the paper made no sense it did contain all the right "buzzwords."

It is possible that the hoax may not offend anyone in the postmodern camp. After all, a central tenet of the new philosophy is that language (words) is, in fact, all there is, all we know for sure. In this instance, they were absolutely right!

The question is, given their understanding of physics, "Would you be willing to fly on a postmodern plane?"

Deconstruction Self-Destructs. Skeptic, 4(2), 17.

I believe in God. I believe the Holy Spirit will guide me into all truth. But I do not believe God will replace aeronautical engineering with prophesy. Ths post modern people are frauds. I will not fly on any of their ideas or attend their schools.