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The Rhetoric Approach, Postmodernism, and Pluralism

4 important questions on The Rhetoric Approach, Postmodernism, and Pluralism

Which aspects did post-modernism reject about modernism? (9)

1. Prescribe a single scientific method (demarcation)
2. Knowledge has foundations
3. Meaning can ultimately be determined with certainty (objectivism)
4. History posesses pattern
5. Things and beings have essential natures (essence)
6. Master narratives are possible
7. Causal determination has a privileged role in explanation
8. Things can be represented in language
9. The self is a coherent entity (identity)

How does a postmodernist argue?

It is an illusian to find objectives. There are so many ways to look at the world, so it is impossible to find a grant narrative
- There are a lot of possibilities, they are not less than others.

Relativsm: You will see more when you accept all forms of knowledge and see them as equaly relevant
- Problem: fact free world. Truth to them is relative and arbitrary.

What is epistemological pluralism?

The view that there are multiple types and forms of knowledge, whcih cannot be shown to be superior to or tracable to the other. In fact there is no independent standard that can be applied to assess between different views on what knowledge is

Why is epistemological pluralism sometimes confused with relativism?

Relativism presupposes that there are no norms for truth and knowledge, while epistemological pluralism presupposes that there are a number of different, competing norms.
- physics vs chemistry