Giving Up on One Another: Postmodernism and Relativism in the Public Sphere

Abstract

Philosophical insults such as “postmodernist,” “relativist,” and “nihilist” have become common in public discourse, used to dismiss targets as unresponsive to reason, evidence, and principle. Our reasons and beliefs, these insults suggest, are so obviously correct that anyone who denies them must be perverse or insane. But insisting on the righteousness and certainty of our own beliefs and preferences distracts us from actually trying to justify them to one another in terms which might be understood and respected. Terms like “postmodernist” and “relativist” add nothing of value to everyday practices of persuasion and justification; for practical purposes, they are merely hifalutin terms of abuse. Such insults build habits of “turning away from” rather than “turning toward” vexing interlocutors—and incentivize them to “turn away from” us. Denigrating opponents as unreasonable amounts to giving up on persuasion and negotiation, leaving as options only uneasy coexistence or outright conflict. Even in instances of conflict, we will always do better to explain our own reasons and to understand our opponents’, rather than writing opponents off as unreasonable or irrational.