Postmodernism is a philosophical movement that questions grand narratives and objective truth. It emerged in the mid-20th century as a reaction to modernism. Modernism believed in progress, science, and universal truth. Postmodernism is skeptical. It sees truth as constructed. It sees power behind knowledge. It sees fragmentation, irony, and pastiche.

The term is used in art, literature, architecture, and philosophy. In art, postmodernism mixes styles and questions originality. In literature, it uses metafiction, unreliable narrators, and intertextuality. In architecture, it combines historical elements in playful ways. In philosophy, it challenges foundationalism and universalism.

Postmodern themes

• Grand narratives are suspect.
• Truth is constructed, not discovered.
• Power and knowledge are linked.
• Identity is fragmented and fluid.
• Irony and pastiche are common.

Postmodernism is controversial. Critics say it leads to relativism and nihilism. They say it denies the possibility of progress. They say it is obscure and self-indulgent. Defenders say it is liberating. It gives voice to marginalized perspectives. It challenges authority. It reveals the hidden assumptions of modernity. Postmodernism is not a single doctrine. It is a mood. It is a set of attitudes. It is a way of seeing the world. It is hard to define because it resists definition. That is fitting. A movement that questions grand narratives resists a grand narrative about itself. Postmodernism is the suspicion that every story is a story, every truth is a perspective, and every authority is a power. That suspicion is its strength and its weakness. It opens possibilities. It also closes certainties.