Truth

“Reject truth.”

Do you believe what you see?

Is there an absolute truth?

Is science a definite truth?

Introduction

For the Postmodernist, nothing is absolute or eternal. There is no truth, but rather various perspectives and interpretations. Postmodernism aims at freedom from the past and is concerned with exposing political, cultural and social structures. The Enlightenment sparked an optimistic, modern belief in the possibility of human progress and this would overcome centuries of darkness, oppression and suffering. Modern intellectuals, the Enlightenment thinkers, assumed truth could be found and it was possible to ultimately know everything. However, the Postmodernist would believe we can ultimately know nothing. There is no certainty and no absolute truth.

Search for Truth

The search for truth has characterised the modern mindset. We have attempted to completely understand and create a definitive account of our universe and everything in it. We have also set up a similar definite account of how people should live in our society. This universal approach to defining our existence goes against the Postmodern approach. The Postmodern way of thinking rejects the existence of truth and moral absolutes.

In the modern world, we respect science as a reliable source of truth. Nowadays, virtually everyone believes the Earth is round on the basis of a scientist's claim. We have been taught this in schools and have seen images of the round Earth in books and on television. But all these forms come from someone else's word. Although it is possible to measure the curvature of the Earth over a day, or travel to space and see the Earth as round, we do not challenge what we believe as truth.

We also see this evident in television commercials. When there is a scientist in a white coat explaining the research involved in creating a product, we all assume that they know what they are talking about and that it is truth. We believe that this research is conducted in an objective spirit of scientific enquiry, rather than any other motive such as profit. The power that the field of scientific knowledge wields is a form of authority and power that has been granted by our society. Yet science has often denied its involvement in storytelling (or any other motive than scientific enquiry) and acts as if to go beyond narrative.