ABSTRACT
This is not a new or particularly postmodern theme as it goes back at least as far as Nietzsche. However, Lyotard, Baudrillard and Foucault all build on the poststructuralist rejection of stable signifiers and emphasise instead the infinity of meaning. But in Lyotard’s case this lack of transcendental meaning also manifests itself in what he terms an ‘incredulity towards meta-narratives’ or grand theories. For Lyotard, reductionist theories no longer represent the world (if they ever did). Grand narratives of science, reason and progress have been replaced by a plethora of goals, styles and methods. However, Foucault is more open minded on this, preferring ‘suspicion’ to an obituary, he still seeks to ‘problematise’ rather than dismiss them entirely. Jameson’s postmodernism still has a place for the grand narratives, though he accepts the need for a more pluralistic and flexible interpretation. For all this suspicion there is still no convincing theory of why such narratives have lost their meaning and force. This is compounded by the ease and comfort with which they rush to fill the death of such over-arching theories with ones of their own (see theme 3 below).
