Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id KAA11340 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 14 Mar 2000 10:43:50 GMT Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2000 10:44:48 GMT From: soc microlab 2 <A.Rousso@uea.ac.uk> Subject: Re: memetics-digest V1 #165 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Message-ID: <ECS10003141048A@imap.uea.ac.uk> Delivery-Receipt-To: soc microlab 2 <j218@imap.uea.ac.uk> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Diana wrote:
Postmodernists on the other hand see a world in which truth
is not found, but made; systems of belief are tools, as are
the transitory "selves" which come into being to meet
particular situations and "choose" from the cafeteria of
cultures. Is this worldview the triumph of the memes? And
if not how do memes sit with postmodernism? Any ideas?
That's a good question. I think most memeticists believe
that truth is found, not made and I include Dennett in that.
However, he does believe that systems of belief are tools,
and whereas I agree with him on most issues, I do agree with
you (and the postmodern view) about truth. Both Thomas Kuhn
and Paul Feyerabend have written books which could be
conceived as postmodern approaches to science, and they both
could be interpreted as sympathetic to memetics.
However, not everyone buys into the memetic model
that states that we are slaves of our memes in some way
because that's all we are, and eventually they will take
over - you could check out Althusser's assertion that "we
are no more than our ideology" (rather than Blackmore
assertion that we are no more than our memes) to see that
this sort of conspiracy/alien invasion theory has been about
before (and it's also quite postmodern).
I think memetics does fit with postmodernism in the
sense that both explain how different cultures/subcultures
conflict, meld, proliferate with each other and so on.
However, where postmodernism is a philosophical or even
literary theoretical attempt to do that, memetics attempts
to do it using an analogue from biology. To that extent, the
two subjects may stay in their respective camps for a while.
Overall, however, I'm (largely) a postmodernist and
I believe in memetics as a useful theory for explaining
human culture.
alex rousso
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