Deconstruction is a tool of postmodernism that was itself constructed by the philosopher and
textual artist Jacques Derrida. His work demonstrates that all texts are polysemous
(have more than one 'meaning') and that this can be demonstrated by close
textual analysis. To 'deconstruct' a text, therefore, is to show the internal
tensions and contradictions within it, as it attempts (and inevitably fails) to
provide one coherent and singular 'meaning'. Most people use deconstruction
simply to mean the analysis of the binaries within an idea.
Many figures in the 20th century philosophy of mathematics are identified as "postmodern" due to their rejection of mathematics as a
strictly neutral point of view. Some figures in the philosophy of science, especially Thomas Samuel Kuhn and David Bohm, are also so viewed. Some see the ultimate expression of postmodernism
in science and mathematics in the cognitive science of mathematics, which seeks to characterize the habit of mathematics itself as
strictly human, and based in human cognitive bias.
In terms of frequently cited works, postmodernism and post-structuralism
overlap quite significantly. Some philosophers, such as Francois Lyotard, can legitimately be classified into both groups.
This is partly due to the fact that both modernism and structuralism owe much
to the Enlightenment project.
Structuralism has a strong tendency to be scientific in seeking out
stable patterns in observed phenomena - an epistemological attitude which is
quite compatible with Enlightenment thinking, and incompatible with
postmodernists. At the same time, findings from structuralist
analysis carried a somewhat anti-Enlightenment message, revealing that
rationality can be found in the minds of 'savage' people, just in forms
differing from those that people from 'civilized' societies are used to seeing.
Implicit here is a critique of the practice of colonialism,
which was partly justified as a 'civilizing' process by which wealthier
societies bring knowledge, manners, and reason to less 'civilized' ones.
Post-structuralism, emerging as a response to the structuralists'
scientific orientation, has kept the cultural relativism in structuralism, while discarding the scientific orientations.
One clear difference between postmodernism and poststructuralism
is found in their respective attitudes towards the demise of the project of the
Enlightenment: post-structuralism is fundamentally ambivalent, while postmodernism
is decidedly celebratory.
Another difference is the nature of the two positions. While
post-structuralism is a position in philosophy, encompassing views on human
beings, language, body, society, and many other issues, it is not a name of an
era. Post-modernism, on the other hand, is closely associated with
"post-modern" era, a period in the history coming after the modern
age.
Technological utopianism is a common trait in Western history - from the
1700's when Adam Smith
essentially labelled technological progress as the
source of the Wealth of Nations, through the novels of Jules Verne in the late
1800's, through Winston Churchill's belief that there was little an inventor could not achieve. Its
manifestation in the post-modernity was first through the explosion of analog
mass broadcasting of television. Strongly associated with the work of Marshall McLuhan who argued that "the medium is the message", the ability of
mass broadcasting to create visual symbols and mass action was seen as a
liberating force in human affairs, even at the same time others were calling
television "a vast wasteland".
The second wave of technological utopianism associated with post-modern
thought came with the introduction of digital internetworking, and became
identified with Esther Dyson and
such popular outlets as Wired Magazine. According to this view digital communications makes the fragmentation
of modern society a positive feature, since individuals can seek out those
artistic, cultural and community experiences which they regard as being correct
for themselves.
The common thread is that the fragmentation of society and communication
gives the individual more autonomy to create their own environment and
narrative. This links into the post-modern novel, which deals with the
experience of structuring "truth" from fragments.