Post structuralism
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Post-structuralism emerged as a cultural movement that questioned concepts like truth, reality, and meaning. It viewed these ideas as social constructions rather than absolutes. Post-structuralists were influenced by Nietzsche's idea that without God, all truth is relative. They drew from Marx and Freud's work as well as structuralism but rejected the notion that phenomena could be analyzed through systems alone. Instead, post-structuralism emphasized that all concepts are defined in relation to one another in constantly evolving ways.
Post structuralism
- 1. POST STRUCTURALISM Post-structuralisms main book, Anti-Oedipus by Deleuze and Guattari, is in fact an attempt to combine Marx and Freud (the subtitle is Capitalism and Schizophrenia) by liberation through free desire. Post-structuralism is really a cultural movement more than an intellectual movement. Structuralism in the 60s was at least in part an intellectual programme, and it was possible to analyse phenomena by treating them as being parts of a system. Post-structuralism moved beyond this, questioning the very notions of Truth, Reality, Meaning, Sincerity, Good etc. It regarded all absolutes as constructions, truth was created, it was an effect, it wasnt present in something. Similarly there was no authority, no Real, everything was defined in terms of everything else, and that process itself was relative and constructed. The main philosopher for the poststructuralists was the nineteenth century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, whose main thought began with the realisation that if God is dead, anything is possible everything is permitted, everything is relative. There are no absolutes anymore. Nietzsche also wrote in a style similar to an Old Testament prophet (see for example his Thus Spoke Zarathustra) his style is full of such phrases as we are living among the ruins of God and post-structuralists tend to follow this poetic style.