Metamodernism: Or, The Cultural Logic of Cultural Logics

by Brendan Graham Dempsey

While the cultural logic of postmodernism continues to permeate and shape society, it is no longer the vanguard of innovation. Today, new art and ideas are moving beyond its established tropes and intellectual impasses. By radicalizing postmodernism's own self- reflective skepticism, irony, and critique, they are pointing the way to novel forms of earnestness, aspiration, and meaning. This "metamodern" paradigm shift is fundamentally changing the narrative, transmuting irony into sincerity, deconstruction into reconstruction, and relativity into directionality.

This book offers an overview of this exciting new discourse, surveying the major strands of metamodern thought while synthesizing them into a compelling theory of cultural evolution. By recursively reflecting on itself, says Dempsey, societies produce increasingly decentered and complex perspectives. By "going meta" on postmodernism, then, critical self-reflexivity itself becomes an object of reflection, revealing the meta-pattern that allows one to toggle between cultural logics without getting lost. Metamodernism thus signals a new sense of coherence, progress, and purpose on the other side of postmodern relativism and value nihilism.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

224 pages, Paperback

Published October 30, 2023

About the author

Brendan Graham Dempsey is a writer whose work focuses on the meaning crisis and the nature of spirituality in metamodernity.

He earned his BA in Religious Studies from the University of Vermont and his MA in Religion and the Arts from Yale University. ​

He lives in Wolcott, Vermont.

Reviews

[Маx Nestelieiev]

Тут у нього таке визначення метамодернізму — це культурний дискурс, яка виходить за межі постмодерну/-ізму засобами самого постмодерну/-ізму. Головна мета Демпсі — запропонувати метатеорію, яка б об’єднала всі інші теорії метамодернізму. На його переконання, метамодернізм — не стабільна сутність, а динамічна синергія, а ще це світогляд, який організується відповідно до «рекурсивної трансцендентності через повторювану саморефлексію», побічними продуктами якого є «дана чуттєвість, філософський проєкт і значимий науковий метанаратив».

[Carlos Almonte]

Nunca lo acabé. Pero ciertamente le debo mucho a este libro. Sin él, no me graduo.

[Erik Gjessing]

The best overview of metamodernism I've come across. The author does a great job describing the common themes and differences between different thinkers and strands.

[Pavel Eder]

An excellent and thought-provoking introduction to metamodernism.