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Critical Thinking in Politics – Postmodern View
We can try to grope for something that different postmodern contexts might have in common as far as political opinions are concerned. Most generally, it can be said that postmodern philosophy is noted for a high level of political non-conformism, tends to be in opposition, and the majority of its community tries to ‘take to the left’ as much as possible. In the opinion of postmodern philosophy, many of the achievements of today’s West European civilization are doubtable. Given the non-conformist attitude of postmodernism, it is not surprising that its entire attention is focused on what might be called ‘critical resource of the political thinking’. The critical position could, apart from constituting grounds for revolutionary opposition and dissent, become a basis for erecting an alternative system of political values. We should not be, though, be misled by the word ‘thinking’, for, no matter what ‘criticism’ postmodernism may mean, it always implies action – some kind of practical activity; modern philosophy has no chance of getting off with theoretical speculations or, even, practical recommendations; it should make efforts to implement those. This road, however, is full of ambiguities and traps, and the notion of ‘political criticism’ raises an entire layer of serious problems. Most of them will consist in attempts to understand whether the hopes that we set on criticism are justifiable or utopian, or, in other words, whether opposition can exist in the days of postmodernism.