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Published: March 30, 2023, 6:34 a.m.

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The German philosopher Hegel gives us a useful tool for understanding the history of ideas: thesis, antithesis, and synthesis.

We can see this clearly in the movement from the Enlightenment to romanticism to modernism and postmodernism\\u2014each intellectual movement a reaction to its predecessor, integrating what works from the previous era with new solutions to meet the demands of new problems.\\xa0

But, where does that leave us now? What comes next after postmodernism?

Odds are, we\\u2019re already in it this new intellectual movement.\\xa0

A growing number of people have become worn out with deconstruction and the postmodernist impulse to doubt everything, to dismantle every concept and institution. It\\u2019s become apparent this exercise which started out as emancipatory and liberating has congealed into its own set of dogmas and less-than-productive ways of being.\\xa0

Eager to revitalize a more constructive mindset and free us from postmodernism\\u2019s long shadow, as he calls it, Jason \\u0100nanda Josephson Storm makes a case for what he hopes will come next. He argues this in his recent book\\xa0Metamodernism: The Future of Theory (2021).

Chair and professor of religion and chair of science and technology studies at Williams College, he aims to take us through postmodernism to metamodernism, to establish a new approach to producing what he calls \\u201chumble knowledge.\\u201d He\\u2019s trying to create a paradigm shift, not just describe what is happening.\\xa0

He believes metamodernism is about the future of all disciplines, especially the human sciences. Ultimately, metamodernism is about hope. It\\u2019s a vision whose ethical and political goals are rooted in compassion and multispecies flourishing.\\xa0

And here are a few things we consider during our conversation:

How does metamodernism utilize skepticism without falling prey to either nihilism or a dogmatic doubting of everything? Why has postmodernism possibly, I say, possibly, reached a dead end? What is the relationship between metamodernism and Pragmatism? And what pressing political or social problems can metamodernism help us solve?

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Show Notes:

The Myth of Disenchantment: Magic, Modernity and the Birth of the Human Sciences\\xa0by Jason \\u0100nanda Josephson Storm (2017)

\\u201cThe Task of the Translator\\u201d in\\xa0Illuminations: Essays and Reflections\\xa0by Walter Benjamin (1968)

\\u201cWhat Is a \\u2018Relevant\\u2019 Translation?\\u201d by Jacques Derrida (2001)

\\u201cAn Interview with Moyo Okediji on Metamodernism\\u201d by Jason \\u0100nanda Josephson Storm (2022)

\\u201cBlack Skin, White Kins: Metamodern Masks, Multiple Mimesis\\u201d in\\xa0Diaspora and Visual Culture: Representing Africans and\\xa0Jews\\xa0by Moyo Okediji (1999)

Metamodernism: The Future of Theory by Jason \\u0100nanda Josephson Storm (2021)

S1E07 Charles Peirce and Inquiry as an Act of Love w/ David O\\u2019Hara\\xa0(2021)

Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature\\xa0by Richard Rorty (1979)

S2E03 Literature Must Be an Unsettling Force for Democracy w/ Elin Danielsen Huckerby\\xa0(2022)

\\u201cRortian Liberalism and the Problem of Truth\\u201d by Adrian Rutt (2021)

\\u201cTruth as Pragmatism\\u2019s Only Hope\\u201d by Jon Alan Schmidt (2022)

\\u201cWhy We Won\\u2019t Ever Arrive at Truth\\u201d by Ian Cran (2022)

\\u201cThe Power of One Idea\\u201d by Jeffrey Howard (2020)

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Music Credits:

\\u201cSuspicious\\u201d by Nicolas Gasparini\\xa0licensed under a\\xa0Creative Commons License

\\u201cHappy Americana\\u201d by ABCDmusic

\\u201cCarmen \\u2013 Habanera (Piano Version) Georges Bizet\\u201d by Nicolas Gasparini\\xa0licensed under a\\xa0Creative Commons License

\\u201cOld Bossa\\u201d by Twin Musicom licensed under a\\xa0Creative Commons License

\\u201cChill Wave\\u201d by Kevin MacLeod licensed under a\\xa0Creative Commons License

\\u201cBet On It\\u201d by Silent Partner licensed under a\\xa0Creative Commons License

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