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Society & Reason

Postmodern Flames In Brazil

Marcos A. Raposo asks if postmodernism can survive science, and vice versa.

The sociologist Zygmunt Bauman called it ‘liquid modernity’. Although it is extremely multifaceted and complex, the postmodern condition can be described, in a nutshell, as disillusionment with the great overarching explanations of the world, including those provided by religion and science. Postmodernism can also be understood through its main symptoms, such as the multiplication of minor, transitory narratives, relativism (the inability to say that any of the narratives are truer or better than any of the others), and hyperreality (the substitution of reality by fiction).

In 2018, postmodernity lunged upon Brazilians in all its colors and intensities as the great destroyer of truths and facts. It was present in the fire of September 2nd that year, which destroyed our biggest natural history museum, the Museu Nacional, and the millions of facts and truths previously preserved therein.

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