Thought for the Day – May 20, 2026

The foundations of postmodernism are best exemplified in texts by Jean Baudrillard and Jean-Francois Lyotard. Baudrillard’s “Simulacra and Simulation” is the foundational text where he coined the concept of hyperreality. Baudrillard posits that understanding is impossible and when one thinks otherwise one is seduced into a simulated version of reality he calls hyperreality. Meaning is obliterated and there can be no “grand theory” of understanding. The real, the objective, the rational, the true, become simulations, copies, and real understanding disappears in favor of simulacra. The dominant simulacra (as we see today) values the false copy and insists it is the correct understanding. This puts nonsense on a par with sense, falsity ion a par with truth, irrational on a par with rational. This is the character of the hyperreality we are living in.

In his book, “The Postmodern Condition,:” Lyotard argues that seeking of grand narratives of understanding have collapsed and efforts to resurrect this approach are destined to collapse as well. The collapse of grand narratives points to the collapse of any formulation of absolutes, including ethics. Lyotard pointed to childhood as a state that is desirable but unattainable. Seeking it anyway, is what one can try in the face of all else.