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Listen to a conversation between a student and a philosophy professor.

Hi Melissa. Your rough draft for your paper is looking very promising so far.

Thanks. I still have some reading to do. Postmodernism is pretty challenging so…

Well, you’re off to a good start. So, anything else about the class or postmodernism, since we have a few minutes before my next appointment?

Well, actually, in class you talked about a French philosopher, Lyotard.

You said he didn’t believe in stories or something like that, that stories were invalid.

Okay. I think I see. First of all, you understand what he…remember what Lyotard said about the grand narrative?

Not really.

Okay. Have a seat.

Alright.

It’s not quite the same way you’re thinking of narrative, not stories.

Lyotard meant narrative as in a way of understanding the world.

Uhm, I uhm.

How can I explain this, grand narrative, it’s, it’s like an idea that helps people make sense of history. Like, when you picture the early Middle Ages in Europe, what do you think?

Ok like, um, there weren’t a lot of cultural achievements then. Lots of wars but not a lot of important art or books or anything. Like it was the Dark Ages.

Alright that’s a simple explanation of a time in history right? Something that tends to be accepted or understood by most people. That makes it a grand narrative. Here’s a more recent one. Scientific progress.

People look at important inventions throughout history, lightbulbs, cars, computers, and we generally believe that there is an underlying universal truth, that modern technology makes the world better.

It’s been the belief for so long that people accept it as being true.

We don’t even think of it much, we just accept that modern technology has that effect.

Student: Well, it does make our lives better.

Professor: Alright. This is where Lyotard comes in. He believed we have to be careful about accepting ideas like that. He said these beliefs really oversimplify things and that we should think more critically.

Are there times when technology would not be considered progress, where it doesn’t bring improvement?

Oh, I don’t know. Pollution. But…

No, no, that’s good. It would be hard to say pollution was a form of improving the world.

But isn’t pollution just a side-effect of…Oh! So it kinda goes against the grand narrative about technology. It complicates things.

Yeah and that’s a basic idea behind postmodernism, that we should be skeptical of grand narratives because there’s a good chance they’re not completely true.

You mean…

Well, not to say there is no truth in grand narratives of course. It’s just that nothing is as simple and straightforward as it seems. We should look critically at the things we assumed.

Okay, I think I get it. Thanks.

get in as much observation time as you can.