Postmodernism

Postmodernism refers to a body of ideas that represent a new era succeeding modernism and in response to it. Postmodern thought characteristically undermines modernist assumptions concerning the universal, rational, nonhistoric foundations of human society. It is based on perception of multiplicity, complexity, or chaos of experience, rather than unity or organization, while repudiating meta-narratives. Postmodernism inclined towards relativistic, irrational, and nihilistic conceptions of human reality. Postmodern theorists reject the concepts of foundational knowledge, essences and universals, cause-and-effect relationships, and the notion of scientific progress. They prefer theoretical pluralism over the claims of any single explanation and assert that all knowledge is partial.

There is no absolute agreement as to precisely when the postmodern era first appeared on the time axis. In economic-political terms, the main reference point is the Second World War, during which acts of...