Grand Narratives Quotes

“In the pragmatist, streetwise climate of advanced postmodern capitalism, with its scepticism of big pictures and grand narratives, its hard-nosed disenchantment with the metaphysical, 'life' is one among a whole series of discredited totalities. We are invited to think small rather than big – ironically, at just the point when some of those out to destroy Western civilization are doing exactly the opposite. In the conflict between Western capitalism and radical Islam, a paucity of belief squares up to an excess of it. The West finds itself faced with a full-blooded metaphysical onslaught at just the historical point that it has, so to speak, philosophically disarmed. As far as belief goes, postmodernism prefers to travel light: it has beliefs, to be sure, but it does not have faith.”
― Terry Eagleton, The Meaning of Life

“Οι μεγάλες αφηγήσεις, οι εξιστορήσεις των μεγάλων στιγμών της ανθρωπότητας, των ριζοσπαστικών αλλαγών, των αλμάτων του πολιτικού και του πολιτιστικού προς τα εμπρός είναι εχθρικές προς τη σημερινή κατάσταση του κόσμου. Η αδιαφορία συναγωνίζεται την έλλειψη παιδείας· και τα δύο μαζί πιστοποιούν ότι η «ιστορία τελείωσε», όχι ως γεγονός αλλά ως συνειδητή απόφαση των κυρίαρχων του κόσμου μας.”
― Γιώργος Μαργαρίτης, Η Ρωσική Επανάσταση: Μια σύντομη ιστορία

“…the narratives we tell to justify a single set of laws and stakes are inherently unjust.”
― James Williams, Key Contemporary Social Theorists

“Universal histories teach us more about the historical crises that inspire them than they do about the civilizations they describe.”
― Mark Lilla, The Shipwrecked Mind: On Political Reaction