Postmodernism is a reaction to the idea of the assumed certainty of things like science, or any objective efforts to explain reality. At its most basic level, it is anchored in skepticism, which is self-defeating when it’s all said and done. However, a person has to subject postmodernism to serious critical analysis to understand the ideology and to appreciate its fatal flaws.
It seems to me that we are living in a time when more than one generation of Westerners has little interest in critical analysis of any kind. And this is the rub. If you buy into Postmodern thinking, what sort of standard can you possibly have for self-critique? That’s kind of the whole point, isn’t it? But this is a self-defeating or self-refuting position. It is such because even postmodern ideology claims that contradictory views are false while at the same time deconstructing any certain standard by which such conclusions can be made. The prevalence of postmodernism in a society means that society is witnessing or has witnessed the death of reason.
The motivation for embracing postmodernism is theologically in orientation. If you want to understand it, look no further than the Garden of Eden and the fall of mankind. Adam and Eve grasped for something they could not have: absolute autonomy. They wanted a state of complete independence. And the results have been catastrophic.
In 1970, here in the United States, the clearest indication that postmodernism was coming into its own presented itself. When human beings began to redefine what human life meant, it was a sign that postmodernism was taking root. But what was at the core of the issue of abortion? Was it a woman’s right over her own body? It was not. That is the argument that was used because the real argument would have never prevailed at that time. The real issue is human autonomy. The real issue is, absolutely, independence. The real issue is that human beings desperately desire to be their own authority. They don’t just want to possess knowledge. They don’t just want to possess all knowledge. They want to determine knowledge. They don’t want to just be morally good people. They want to be the final arbiter of what is and is not moral top to bottom. And with this, they don’t want to simply know what humans are. They desire to define the very idea of human. But to do that, some things have to go.
If a new authority is to arise, the current authority must be excised. The first thing that had to be dealt with was tradition. It did not matter that tradition is formed over a long period of historical trial and error and progress.
Enter the sexual revolution and the degrading behavior of homosexuality. Man, in his autonomy has decided that the traditional view of sex only within the bounds of marriage was anchored in a tradition that must be challenged. It had to go. One expert puts it this way, “On the other hand, the permissiveness of that era is linked to rising pornography, divorce, single-parent families, welfare dependency, drug abuse, and youth crime. Attitudes and laws upholding marriage and the family shifted in favor of individual values and personal choice.”
At the same time, students of postmodern philosophy had also taken aim at Christianity. To be specific, the Bible must go. The Bible represents the greatest threat to autonomy within humanity. Of all the documents in existence, this document clearly teaches that all men are utterly and eternally dependent on God for their very existence in every way imaginable. This document makes demands on every aspect of human existence including how we live, what we say, how we think, what we are obliged to believe, and a myriad of others. If the Bible is true, man can never reach his desired state of absolute autonomy.