The Post-unitary Paradigms of Order II: From Modernity to Post-modernity

Abstract

The chapter focuses on postmodernism as the second way to overcome the unitary understanding of order. Starting with the philosophical renewal that anticipated the rising of the new paradigm, the analysis highlights how postmodernism maintains, for the first time in Western thinking, that order, in the sense of rules that the society in its totality has to follow, is something that threatens the self-realization of the concrete individualities. Two different strands of the postmodern approach develop, both criticizing the world of social, political and legal interactions. The first variant picks up the most radical interpretation of postmodern criticism, asserting that, insofar as order is oppressive, the only possibility to make the society more “human” would consist in an uncompromising rejection of the established rules. The second variant relies on the more moderate dimension of postmodern critical analysis of the modern society: order in its absoluteness remains threatening, but it does not need to be subverted; rather, it has just to be de-structured as a whole and split into a plurality of “orders”—in plural. Albeit highly innovative, the postmodern overture towards a more pluralistic understanding of order runs the risk of lowering the standards for legitimacy and normativity.