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First, knowledge and
truth. Where modernism thought it could know things objectively about the
world, postmodernism has reminded us that there is no such thing as neutral
knowledge. Everybody has a point of view, and that point of view distorts.
Everybody describes things the way that suits them. There is no such thing as
objective truth. Likewise, there are no such things as objective values, only
preferences. I heard somebody say at a meeting in 1996, “Today, attitudes are
more important than facts—and we can document that!” That statement trembles on
the brink between modernity and postmodernity. The cultural symbols that
encapsulate this revolution are the personal stereo and the virtual-reality
screen; everyone creates their own private world.

Second, the self.
Modernity vaunted the great lonely individual, the all-powerful “I,” symbolised
perfectly in Descartes’s cogito ergo sum and in the proud claim, “I am
the master of my fate. . . the captain of my soul.”1
But postmodernity has deconstructed the self, the “I.” The “I” now may be just
a floating signifier, a temporary and accidental meeting place of conflicting
forces and impulses. Just as reality collapses inward upon the knower, the
knower deconstructs itself.

Third, the story.
Modernity implied a narrative about the way the world was. It was essentially an
eschatological story. World history had been steadily moving toward, or at
least eagerly awaiting, the point at which the industrial revolution and the
philosophical enlightenment would burst upon the world bringing a new era of
blessing for all. This huge overarching story—such overarching stories are
known in this postmodernist world as metanarratives—now has been conclusively
shown to be an oppressive, imperialist, and self-serving construct. It has
brought untold misery to millions in the industrialized West, and to billions
in the rest of the world, where cheap labor and raw materials have been
ruthlessly exploited. It is a story that serves the interest of Western
industrial capitalism. Modernity stands condemned of building a new tower of
Babel. Postmodernity has gone on to claim, primarily with this great
metanarrative as the example, that all metanarratives are suspect. They are all
power games.