Postmodernity and Its Discontents

Philosophizing has always meant talking about frivolous and abstract things. We can say that Postmodernity and its discontents can erase this understanding and prejudice.

Zygmunt Bauman makes the "philosophy of practice" in this book. He observes that the only thing certain in the "postmodern" world is "uncertainty" and that the mill of "contingency" "reconstructs" all "paradigms" at every moment. Therefore, no one can claim "avant-garde"; because he says that it is not possible to avoid being ground in the mill of "contingency".
In Postmodernity and Its Discontents, Bauman introduces us to the world of "outsiders," "upstarts," "pariahs," "tourists," "idlers," "fundamentalists," and the like. We see why the groups in question are "indispensable" members of society. We realize how much the "natives" need the "upstarts" and how they would be "out of place" without them. We are trying to understand the mood of the "foreigners" who are more "native" than "native". We also look at the "culture" that we glorify so much as a "consumer cooperative".

We are witnessing the contradictions of the "Enlightenment". We see how "avant-garde enlighteners" who want to "educate society" go crazy and attack the masses when their functions end and they become unemployed. On the other hand, we review Foucault's History of Sexuality by tracing the "educational revolution" at the beginning of the modern age.

This work, which we can describe as the "philosophy of postmodern practice", also has its own unique "foundations": Freedom, more freedom; difference, more difference; and also solidarity (to ensure their continuity), more solidarity.

Bauman, who sees responsibility and freedom as two sides of the same coin in the postmodern world dominated by uncertainty and differences, gives the last word to freedom.
(From the Promotional Bulletin)



Number of Pages: 320

Year of Printing: 2013


Language: Turkish
Publisher: Details Publications

First Print Year: 2000

Language Turkish