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Description: Postmodern Theory has engaged the hearts and heads of the brightest students because of its apparent political and social radicalism. Despite this Professor Gavin Kitching claims that, ‘At the Heart of postmodernism is very poor, deeply confused and misbegotten philosophy. As a result even the very best students who fall under its sway produce radically incoherent ideas about language, meaning, truth and reality."
This is not another conservative attack on postmodernism. Rather, it is a carefully considered analysis from a dedicated university teacher who is convinced that we have gone terribly astray. He shows that postmodern theory is at best irrelevant to, and at worst undermines, persuasive political arguments, and reveals the basic philosophical confusion at its heart.
Essential reading for any student writing a thesis in the humanities and the social sciences, and for their teachers.
Contents : Introduction Part I: Tied in Knots: Theory and Confusion: ‘Doing theory’, or creating a landscape • ‘Relationships’, or arranging objects in the landscaps • Zapping landscapes and setting objects alight: Power • The social construction of reality: Equivocations • Language and discourse Part II: Loosening the Coils: Wittgenstein: An outsider’s view of the world: The contemplative stance of the theorist • Theory and Tractatus epistemology • The last and most tangled knot: The linguistic construction of subjectivity Part III: Good Causes and Bad Philosophy: Confusion and virtue • ‘The enlightenment project’ • Tips for teachers and supervisors • Conclusions • Quotation Appendices • Notes • Bibliography • Index ISBN - 9781741755220
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Pages : 234
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