Postmoderntiy a Break from Modernity - 1903 Words

Postmodernity: A Break from Modernity Postmodern is a complex term with multiple usages. As a consequence, it is open to conflation and confusion. The â€Å"post† in postmodern is not definitive and it’s up to the writers to clarify their particular usage. (Gibbins Reimer, 1996, p. 8) As such, the meaning of â€Å"post† in this paper refers a â€Å"break from†, â€Å"opposition to†, â€Å"difference to and from† and a response to†. Works of Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill; Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault will prove that there is break between Modernity and Postmodernity. Modernity Modernity refers to a way of life and state of mind that experience progressive economic and administrative rationalization on which this processes†¦show more content†¦A person may exercise his will but he must not harm other people. He can maximize his happiness only if it will not harm others. (p. 13) One must take into consideration that Mill’s Liberalism proposed general welfare of the people. One can see that the state may set some law. This is done to protect the interest of its people. Mill believes that if everyone receives a protection from the society thus everyone owes a return for that benefit(p. 69). Society has an obligation to the people. The society is to blame if children are misguided Mill propose mass education. He believe that if mass education was set up, there will be no more difficulty in thinking what the state should teach and how it should teach (p. 97). Marx and Mill were concerned about the general welfare of the people. If Marx discusses the equality of men by means of setting a communist society, Mill on the other hand believes general welfare can be promoted through civil/social liberty. Through the Works of Marx and Mill one can see that they are both concerned with the state as a whole. Thus, both of them adheres a universal principle addressing society, Mill on setting the framework of Liberal democratic thought and Marx claim to have a communist society. Postmodernity The term postmodern seems to have been first used in 1917 by Rudolf Pannwitz to describe nihilism of 20th century to which he took his discussion from Nietzche. (Cahoone, 2003, p. 1) Postmodernism