Political Integration, the Limited State, and the Philosophy of Postmodernism

Abstract

From the standpoint of its critics, postmodernism represents the disintegration of the modern philosophical and ethical tradition into relativism and corrosive scepticism. But it may also be seen in a more positive light. I do not mean the light shed by the uncritical optimism of defenders who identify it with openness and true toleration. I mean, rather, that it may be seen as a step towards a more modest conception of man and of politics than has characterized the past two centuries. This modesty as yet assumes only a precarious form in postmodern thought, but ways are suggested here by which it may be reinforced. In particular, so far as politics are concerned, the postmodern stress upon difference appears to point towards a rediscovery of the contemporary relevance of the classical ideal of civil association. It is this ideal which represents the most effective means of coming to terms with the ‘new politics' which postmodernism represents – the politics, that is, of ‘inclusion’, devoted to hitherto excluded sexual, racial, and ecological issues. In so far as this interpretation of postmodernism is a plausible one, it lends some support to the view of Agnes Heller and Ferenc Fehér that we may be entering an era of ‘settling in’, following upon the era of ideology. To give their precise words: ‘If modernity is the drama of permanent revolution, postmodernity may be characterized as the epic of settling-in.’ ( The Postmodern Political Condition, p. 158.) Out of the disintegration of philosophy and the critique of liberal foundational doctrine, then, it may be that the way is being paved for a more viable framework for limited politics.