postmodernists
Grand narrative skeptics
Postmodernists are thinkers, artists, or scholars associated with postmodernism—a movement skeptical of universal truths, grand narratives, and fixed meanings.
The term spans philosophy, literature, architecture, and cultural criticism.
Postmodernists argue that objectivity is an illusion.
Often used dismissively by critics who see the approach as relativistic or willfully obscure.
Imitative artistic tribute
- bricolageConstruction from available materials
- collageAssembled mixed-media artwork
- juxtapositionAdjacent contrasting placement
- fragmentationBreaking into smaller pieces
parody · irony · playfulness · self-reference · metafiction · intertextuality · appropriation · simulacrum
Personal viewpoint coloring perception
- contextualismBelief justification varies situationally
- constructivismActive knowledge-building theory
- contingencyUncertain possible event
- indeterminacyLack of fixed outcome
multiplicity · pluralism · hermeneutics · epistemology · positionality · standpoint
All-encompassing explanatory framework
- subversionUndermining established authority
- skepticismDisposition toward doubt
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
- deconstructionAnalysis exposing self-contradiction
discourse · power · ideology · hegemony · genealogy · demystification · unmasking · destabilization
State of being dissimilar
- multiplicityState of being many
- hybridityMixed-origin quality
- differenceWay things contrast
- polyphonySimultaneous independent melodic lines
interdisciplinarity · syncretism · multiculturalism · diversity · cosmopolitanism · eclecticism · inclusivity · nonhierarchical
Shifting away from self-focus
- binaryConsisting of two parts
- oppositionActive resistance or dissent
- signifierMeaning-bearing form
- signifiedExpressed meaning symbolically
trace · dissemination · erasure · butler
pastiche
Imitative artistic tribute
- bricolageConstruction from available materials
- collageAssembled mixed-media artwork
- juxtapositionAdjacent contrasting placement
fragmentation · parody · irony · playfulness · self-reference · metafiction · intertextuality · appropriation · simulacrum · hyperreality
subjectivity
Personal viewpoint coloring perception
- contextualismBelief justification varies situationally
- constructivismActive knowledge-building theory
- contingencyUncertain possible event
indeterminacy · multiplicity · pluralism · hermeneutics · epistemology · positionality · standpoint
metanarrative
All-encompassing explanatory framework
- subversionUndermining established authority
- skepticismDisposition toward doubt
- questioningSeeking answers through inquiry
deconstruction · discourse · power · ideology · hegemony · genealogy · demystification · unmasking · destabilization · challenge
heterogeneity
State of being dissimilar
- multiplicityState of being many
- hybridityMixed-origin quality
- differenceWay things contrast
polyphony · interdisciplinarity · syncretism · multiculturalism · diversity · cosmopolitanism · eclecticism · inclusivity · nonhierarchical · decentered
decentering
Shifting away from self-focus
- binaryConsisting of two parts
- oppositionActive resistance or dissent
- signifierMeaning-bearing form
signified · trace · dissemination · erasure · butler
- thinkersthinkers, thinker, philosophers, philosopher, Aristotle
- believersbeliever, believers, adherent, devotee, theist
- art movementsPop Art, pop art, Impressionism, impressionism, Surrealism
- French IntellectualsJean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Albert Camus, Sartre, Voltaire
postmoderniststraditionalists
Upholders of established customs
essentialists · objectivists · modernists · universalists · positivists