Post-modernism is a way of looking at the world in a way that opens up minds to new perspectives. It is a way that considers all knowledge and makes knowledge more available to all. It makes people to critically look at reality itself and realize that it is a construction based on social conditioning. It considers people with different perspectives in multiple ways. It is a way to look at word and realize that the definition depends on its context. It gives room for paradigms that aren’t traditional or that are different than the familiar. A weakness is that because it gives room for so much new information and perspectives, there is no way to say what is right and wrong.
In a traditional paradigm, dogma or a rigid belief set gives people meaning and a set of absolute truths. It gives people meaning to life and existence. It helps to give morality, a sense of community and order to an otherwise chaotic world. There is comfort in the predictable and that is what tradition gives people.
In post modernism, everything is questioned. The meaning of God and life is doubted and analyzed. It literally strips away meaning to life. People must find their own truths and meanings which can create a more individualistic society. With postmodernism, a common meaning or purpose is not as obvious as in a traditional way of thinking. People are sometimes left feeling depressed and empty if what they believe is disproven. The depression rates are large in postmodern societies. We have redefined the word crisis to mean all stages of life, all looking for specific meaning. In many ways, postmodernism has helped people to have the freedom to choose to define one’s own meaning. That choice is sometimes too powerful and can strip away an identity that has been ingrained through generations of tradition.
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