Modern/Postmodern: Off the Beaten Path of Antimodernism

(Hardback)

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Description

This study introduces the author's theory of dimensional acrrual/dissociation to explain the difference between modernity and postmodernity. It argues that social scientific operational definitions are useful but very often arbitrary. Thus, realities based on them are available for creative (alternative) validities. Kramer applies this position to the concepts of modernity and postmodernity, providing a painstaking review of the origins, key thinkers and current status of these ides. By reviewing the development of these ideas and providing clear definitions of these concepts, the book should help scholars and researchers in the social sciences and humanities better understand applications and limitations of these key approaches in late-20th-century scholarship.

Reviews

Following the phenomenological insights of Husserl and Jean Gebser, Kramer defends meaning against nihilism, rejecting what he terms 'stable systems, ' while prizing less systematic thinking by means of a 'variety of validities'.... Which is more viable--the endless effort to share one world and try to reach common criteria for validity, or living with the many worlds' vision beyond any perspective and the ongoing feat of seeing the value of others' successes Whichever way it goes, Kramer's most valuable reminder to protagonists of all stripes is that their reach must exceed their grasp, or what is philosophy for A good book for stirring up debate over the basic task as well as the outer limits of both doing philosophy and communication wih colleagues.-Choice
"Following the phenomenological insights of Husserl and Jean Gebser, Kramer defends meaning against nihilism, rejecting what he terms 'stable systems, ' while prizing less systematic thinking by means of a 'variety of validities'.... Which is more viable--the endless effort to share one world and try to reach common criteria for validity, or living with the many worlds' vision beyond any perspective and the ongoing feat of seeing the value of others' successes Whichever way it goes, Kramer's most valuable reminder to protagonists of all stripes is that their reach must exceed their grasp, or what is philosophy for A good book for stirring up debate over the basic task as well as the outer limits of both doing philosophy and communication wih colleagues."-Choice

Author Bio

ERIC MARK KRAMER is Assistant Professor of Communications at the University of Oklahoma. Among his earlier publications are Consciousness and Culture: An Introduction to the Thought of Jean Grebser (Greenwood, 1992) and Postmodernism and Race, forthcoming from Praeger.