Brendan Sweetman, ‘Postmodernism, Derrida, and Différance: A Critique,’ International Philosophical Quarterly 39:1 (1999): pp. 5-18.

Excerpt:

“I define postmodernism as a movement whose central theme is the critique of objective rationality and identity, and a working out of the implications of this critique for central questions in philosophy, literature and culture. My definition is motivated by my belief that postmodernism is mainly a philosophical theory about the nature of knowledge, and the ability of the human mind to know reality. In short, postmodernism mainly revolves around a set of metaphysical claims about the natures of language and meaning…

I believe that a careful examination of the philosophical basis of postmodernism is the most important question a serious thinker can raise about postmodernism; if this question is ignored, or treated superficially, then the application of postmodernist ideas to philosophical issues and texts, to questions and issues in other disciplines, and to social, political and educational agendas will be greatly undermined.”

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Rockhurst University