Rethinking the Postmodern Perspective: Excavating the Kantian System to Rebuild Social Theory

Abstract

The postmodernism debate in the social sciences has been misunderstood as primarily an epistemological problem concerning method. The evolution of the postmodemism debate into the science wars has raised the same issues. Critics blame postmodernism and science studies for epistemological relativism and hostility toward science, while supporters attempt to use postmodtxnism as a part of a project to replace positivism with interpretive methods. Both critics and supporters of postmodemism miss the most important aspect of the postmodern perspective: the attempt to break out of epistemology and the Kantian conceptual framework. Critics of postmodernism and science studies also mistakenly argue that postmodernism is the sole creation of the humanities. Many of the key concepts of the postmodern perspective, however, were developed through reflections on novel dc velopments in the natural sciences. Because critics and supporters of postmodernism ir the social sciences remain within a Kantian conceptual framework, the postmodern break from epistemology has been overlooked. A close reading of reflexive texts on the natural sciences rules out any claim that the postmodern perspective is simply a relativistic methodology that dislikes science. The pages below focus on key texts by Gaston Bachelard, Georges Canguilhem, Michel Foucault and Bruno Latour as an attempt to re-orient the postmodernism debate in the social sciences. A reexamination of these tcxts reveals how the postmodernism debate in the social sciences has mistakenly understood postmodernism as a problem of method and epistemology. Science studies represt nts the maturation of the postmodern perspective by building a non-epistemologically oriented social theory. The possibility of rebuilding social theory after the dismantling of epistemology is the unique hallmark of science studies, the most recent development of the postmodern perspective.Life no argument.-We have fixed up a world for ourselves in which we can liveassuming bodies, lines, planes, cause s and effects, motion and rest, form and content: without these articles of faith, nobody now would endure life. But that does not mean that they have been proved. Life is 10 argument; the conditions of life could include error. . . . Truth is the kind of error vithout which a certain species of life could not live. The value for life is ultimately decisive.-Nietzsche, The Will to Power

Daughter Praising, Mother Bashing: A Case Study From Hong Kong

“…The debate about postmodernism in the social sciences began in the late 1980s (Roberts, 2000). In social theory, Allan (2000) interpreted postmodernism in the following way: It rejects grand narratives on the nature of the universe, doubts the advantages of technology, and reduces science to a language game.…”

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“…For these reasons, it is important and relevant for social work treatment and prevention programs, program evaluations, and scientific research to be grounded in theory (Aymer & Okitikpi, 2000;Crotty, 1998;Dean & Fenby, 1989;Holmes, 1986;Tooley, 2007). To accomplish this task a social researcher must examine the theories related to the phenomena under study-embracing those that inform and discarding those that do not provide insight or address the issues at hand (Austin, 1983;Gambrill, 1999;Gergen, 1999;Gibbs, 2003;Haworth, 1991;Roberts, 2000;Saleebey, 1991;Weick, 1991). Immediately following is a discussion of relevant theories that were considered to inform the current work (classical organizational theory, social exchange theory, and social learning theory), but were set aside; the rationale for doing so is provided for each.…”