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OverviewIn this book, Reinhold Kramer explores a variety of important social changes, including the resistance to objective measures of truth, the rise of “How-I-Feel” ethics, the ascendancy of individualism, the immersion in cyber-simulations, the push toward globalization and multilateralism, and the decline of political and religious faiths. He argues that the displacement, since the 1990s, of grand narratives by ego-based narratives and small narratives has proven inadequate, and that selective adherence, pluralist adaptation, and humanism are more worthy replacements. Relying on evolutionary psychology as much as on Charles Taylor, Kramer argues that no single answer is possible to the book title’s question, but that the term “postmodernity” – referring to the era, not to postmodernism – still usefully describes major currents within the contemporary world. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Reinhold KramerPublisher: Springer Nature Switzerland AG Imprint: Springer Nature Switzerland AG Edition: 1st ed. 2019 Weight: 0.575kg ISBN: 9783030305680ISBN 10: 3030305686 Pages: 328 Publication Date: 19 November 2019 Audience: Professional and scholarly , Professional & Vocational Format: Hardback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Manufactured on demand We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier. Table of ContentsChapter 1: Introduction: The Contemporary Era Naming and dating postmodernity Just the West? The ethical dilemma Chapter 2: Truth or Truths? Truth as a kind of fiction? Emotion as the new truth? Truth, Act II Chapter 3 Ethics: “How I feel at the time” Moral dilemmas Skepticism about ethical foundations Traditionalist ethics Science-based (modernist) ethics Postmodern ‘other’-based ethics Market-based ethics Contractarian ethics Chapter 4: Individualism: “I Believe in Me” The costs of postmodern individualism Self-indulgence Civility Decline of empathy Lack of larger commitments beyond the self Social distancing Pleasure Case study: The novels of David Foster Wallace The goods and limits of postmodern individualism Freedom – completing the work of modernity Blysspluss Chapter 5: Adventures in Cyber-culture Internet gains Internet losses A decline of memory and literacy A decline of reason Illusory gains in multi-tasking A decline of human connections More democratic? More resolutely into simulation ‘Layered’ reality Internet addiction and mediated lives Next step, transhuman? Hunger for the unreal Chapter 6 :The Nation Individualism: distrust of the political Consumer, not citizen Decline of the public sphere Multilateralism and globalization Deregulation Reassertions of the national grand narrative Global rule of law Selective national sovereignty Chapter 7 :Faith and Other Grand Narratives “Evil Spirits” Traditional beliefs diminishing in a postmodern context Traditional beliefs continuing New grand narratives: science, environment The undecided middle Ego-based personal narratives Small narratives Selective adherence Pluralist adaptation Humanism Case study: Humanist chaplain Bart Campolo Chapter 8: ConclusionReviewsThis impressively wide-ranging book suggests that there is an important distinction between postmodernism (the theories) and postmodernity (the practices) - between 'literary and philosophical skepticism about foundations and reality' and 'post-war social developments.' ... the book has plenty of range, and this is one of the great pleasures of reading it. (Karl Manis, University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol. 91 (3), August, 2022) “This impressively wide-ranging book suggests that there is an important distinction between postmodernism (the theories) and postmodernity (the practices) – between ‘literary and philosophical skepticism about foundations and reality’ and ‘post-war social developments.’ … the book has plenty of range, and this is one of the great pleasures of reading it.” (Karl Manis, University of Toronto Quarterly, Vol. 91 (3), August, 2022) Author InformationReinhold Kramer is a professor at Brandon University in Canada. He is the author of Scatology and Civility in the English-Canadian Novel and Mordecai Richler: Leaving St. Urbain (winner of a Jewish Book Award and the Gabrielle Roy Prize). Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |