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The
Editors
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Postmodern
Utterance
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Definition
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Postmodernists
think this is....
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Modernist
equal-time response
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Cartesian
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having
to do with the philosophy of Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
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bad
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You
try coming up with a slogan as catchy as "I think, therefore
I am."
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Deconstruction
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undermining
a system of thought (see "metanarrative") by demonstrating
its own internal contradictions; or, the school of thought
that practices deconstruction
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very
good
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Once
upon a time, you didn't have to use weird pun-ctuation
to (re)veal the f/laws in someone's logic.
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Enlightment
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the
philosophical developments of the 18th and 19th centuries,
emphasizing human reason and autonomy
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bad
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The
golden age before others (which see) ruined everything.
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Implicit
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concealed
(usually with subconscious intent to oppress)
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bad
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Sorry
I didn't state it more clearly- I really do hate you.
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Intertextuality
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the
dependence of meaning on a web of stories, none of which
is sufficient or normative by itself
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good
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I
don't believe in texts, I believe in facts.
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Marginalize
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to
eliminate or minimize the influence of, especially by
creating a totalizing system that leaves no room for
alternate perspectives
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very
bad
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Sounds
perfectly Darwinian to me.
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Metanarrative
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an
overarching story that purports to account for all of
reality
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bad
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Long
live the glorious Republic, upholder of truth and freedom!
(What metanarrative?)
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Orthodoxy
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see
"marginalize," "violence," etc.
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bad
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No
argument here.
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Other,
The
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the
quintessential problemÑcan't live with 'em, can't
live without 'em.
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good/bad*
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Useful
for slave labor to underwrite our achievement of world
domination-a domination which, I would add, we deserve
based on our superior technological achievements.
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Post-Structuralist
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part
of a movement that reacts to the French movement "structuralism"
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good
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How
long did structuralism last-ten years, max? You gonna
be reacting against it for the rest of your career?
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Semiotics
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noun
(sing.)-the study of how words (signifiers) acquire
conventional meanings (signification)
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good
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Who
says you need words? My lab instruments are fine all
by themselves.
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Violence
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the
result of people trying to impose their meta- narratives
on others
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very
bad
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You
can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
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*These
polar opposites are inadequate regimes of orthodoxy,
as the editors show by their subconscious need to describe
things as very good or bad.
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Got
the idea? Try translating these postmodern sentences!
(simple)
"The Enlightment metanarrative is based on Cartesian
marginalization of the other."
(intermediate)
"A post-structuralist semiotics exposes orthodoxy's
implicit violence by deconstructing its controlling
metanarrative."
(advanced)
" Post-structuralist intertextual semiotics, rejecting
as it does implicit violence of the dominant Cartesian
metanarrative, (re)verses the Enlightenment's marginalizing
orthodoxy by a thoroughgoing p(r)ogr(amme) (om) of deconstruction."
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