Thursday, February 16, 2012

Another Stab at Defining Metanarrative

After refining. And re-refining. And... I'm toying with the following as a definition for metanarrative (or worldview - holding that metanarrative and worldview are talking about the same thing - the former from the perspective of form, the latter from the perspective of function). This definition is a "take-off" of one used for worldview by Worldview Resource Group (www.wrg3.org). Anyway, here is the proposed definition: Metanarrative is the perceived reality in which a community lives - that perceived reality being formed by a story-grid through which the community interprets and interacts with all reality. This definition highlights the fact that metanarrative/worldview is primarily a communal as opposed to an individual affair. The community size is not stated. It might be the community of secular-humanists in North America, or the community of Plains Cree of Canada, or the community Punjabi immigrants in Vancouver, BC, or the community of north-eastern Montana ranchers.

Friday, February 10, 2012

No Knowing is Untainted by Prejudice


James K. Smith counters Ronald Nash's berating of postmodernism. Smith believes the postmodern critique of "reason" opens the way for a dialogue with postmodernists. As Smith puts it, "Previously, such a distinctly 'Christian philosophy' [that is, one with an emphasis on faith] would have been exiled from the the 'pure' arena of philosophy because of its 'infection' with bias and prejudice. Lyotard's critique, however, demonstrates that no philosophy - indeed, no knowledge is untainted by prejudice or faith-commitments. In this way the playing field is leveled, and new opportunities to voice a Christian philosophy are created.1
We all have a "faith-commitment" to some metanarrative, to some over-arching story that we tacitly live by - even those who claim to hold to a metanarrative of reason. 
[1] James K. Smith, "A Little Story about Metanarratives: Lyotard, Religion, and Postmodernism Revisited," M. Penner, ed., Christianity and the Postmodern Turn: Six Views (Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2005) 123-140. 

Kearney & Gadamer – Comparisons and/or Contrasts?

Self to other: I'm looking for anyone with information (or opinions) regarding the comparison and/or contrast of Michael Kearney's axis of self and other in his worldview construct with Hans-Georg Gadamer's self and other in his philosophical hermeneutics construct.

Friday, February 3, 2012

The Genesis of the Problem of Meaning

The forbidden-fruit-eating in that original garden affected man in every way, including his ability to see things as they really are. His ability to interpret anything and everything became fundamentally flawed. There became an all-encompassing, pervasive problem-of-meaning of magisterial magnitude for mankind.