When is a pair of dimes not 20 cents? When they are paradigms.
Another way to discuss postmodern thinking is to understand what paradigms are (besides a pair of dimes). A paradigm is a noun. Another word for this noun is "world view" or a certain way of looking at things. A synonym might be "perspective". It is usually a term used by academics to describe a "thought pattern" around certain concepts.
For example: There is a scientific paradigm through which the world is viewed. The paradigm is called the scientific
method. The scientific method views reality as something that can be "proven to be true" or "factual". All one has to
do is design a test that will prove or disprove a hypothesis.
Another example: My field of marriage and family therapy promotes the world view that the world is relational. So we design tests, theories, and techniques to counsel any one in a relationship: which we believe is everyone. Our paradigm is a relational paradigm: "everything is connected".
The world of business, government, education, religion all have their paradigms. Within and among these fields are numerous ways of viewing how the world works. These paradigms serve their fields to make sense of its world according to itself. Hence an expression like: Think global and act local is an economic/political world view or paragidm.
Postmodern thinking has a paradigm and is a paradigm. The world view is this: Reality is socially constructed.
To contrast this with the scientific paradigm we would say: Reality is that which is provable.The field of marriage and family systems says: Reality is relational.
Within each at of these paradigms the world "reality" often is used interchangeably with the word "true" or "truth".
One more point. Paradigms answer this question: "How do you know what we know?" Or put another way: "How do we know what 'reality' is?" The three examples above are different paradigms with different answers.
How do we know if reality is a) socially constructed? b) provable? c)relational?
For example: There is a scientific paradigm through which the world is viewed. The paradigm is called the scientific
method. The scientific method views reality as something that can be "proven to be true" or "factual". All one has to
do is design a test that will prove or disprove a hypothesis.
Another example: My field of marriage and family therapy promotes the world view that the world is relational. So we design tests, theories, and techniques to counsel any one in a relationship: which we believe is everyone. Our paradigm is a relational paradigm: "everything is connected".
The world of business, government, education, religion all have their paradigms. Within and among these fields are numerous ways of viewing how the world works. These paradigms serve their fields to make sense of its world according to itself. Hence an expression like: Think global and act local is an economic/political world view or paragidm.
Postmodern thinking has a paradigm and is a paradigm. The world view is this: Reality is socially constructed.
To contrast this with the scientific paradigm we would say: Reality is that which is provable.The field of marriage and family systems says: Reality is relational.
Within each at of these paradigms the world "reality" often is used interchangeably with the word "true" or "truth".
One more point. Paradigms answer this question: "How do you know what we know?" Or put another way: "How do we know what 'reality' is?" The three examples above are different paradigms with different answers.
How do we know if reality is a) socially constructed? b) provable? c)relational?
Remember how in the first blog I said this stuff is too serious to be taken seriously? Have fun with this: Describe a table according to the major paradigms of religion, politics, economics, culture, education, science, etc.
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