Postmodern Spirit -- Academic Translation Series of the New Century

Author: (American) Griffin, edited by Wang Chengbing, translated by Wang Chengbing
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-03-01
Features: Postmodernism, one of the most influential cultural trends in contemporary Western society, has increasingly attracted the attention and interest of scholars in China. As this trend continues to develop overseas, the number of academic works on postmodernism by Chinese scholars is also growing. In the era of reform and opening-up, this is actually a very natural phenomenon. Years after Sartre's death, we only began to learn about him, yet now, with figures like Gadamer, Derrida, Rorty, Huy, and Griffin still alive, we have already started studying their thoughts. This cannot be said to be anything but progress.
Postmodern thinkers are not only "concerned individuals" but also those who confront reality directly. They clearly recognize the two "world-destroying challenges" facing humanity today—nuclear weapons and the environment—and strive to address these issues. In the process of tracing the roots of these problems, they discover that modernity is largely to blame for humanity's current misfortunes. Therefore, challenging and critiquing modernity becomes the primary task of postmodern thinkers. This is why Griffin states: "We can, and should abandon modernity. In fact, we must do so; otherwise, we and most life on Earth will be unable to escape the fate of destruction."