What was the line (maybe from Hegel, and I will certainly butcher it) about the history’s main lesson being that men learn nothing from history?
Forgive me for getting nerdy, but the history of thought was what fascinated me most in college…and still does. Broad brush here, yes, but suffice it to say the modern project—basically aligned with the Enlightenment—was to eradicate human suffering. In many respects, we have. Modern medicine cures diseases that were once fatal, and we modern men don’t have to suffer the brutal heat of summer with now that we have fancy air conditioners. But the inevitable death that awaits still haunts us. We have not been able to eradicate that, nor will we.
Because of this, the over-arching modern project failed. Post-modernism, then, is basically a doubling down on the failed modern project. If we cannot eradicate death, then we must assuage our anxieties associated with this inevitability by fooling ourselves. Post-modernity’s rejection of truth—or, more rightly, Truth—is a linguistic denial of the fact that we are still going to die.
Two points (I doubt anyone cares about my philosophical waxings I have difficulty containing):
1) True post-modernism would be a return to the lessons that we are beings (or in my view, creatures) with natural limits. Learning to live within and accept those limits is the key to living a good life.
2) The supposed post-modern project, then, should more rightly be labeled hyper-modernism.
Lines connecting such hyper-modern thought need not be drawn between the political villains of the 20th Century, ie, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, etc. The common man recognizes these connections. That the educated elite do not is very telling.
Fwiw, I cannot claim those thoughts as my own. I am very much indebted to Peter Lawler.