POLITICAL-INTEGRATION, THE LIMITED STATE, AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF POSTMODERNISM

From the standpoint of its critics, postmodernism represents the disin tegration of the modem philosophical and ethical tradition into relati vism and corrosive scepticism. But it may also be seen in a more posit ive light. I do not mean the light shed by the uncritical optimism of defenders who identify it with openness and true toleration. I mean, r ather, that it may be seen as a step towards a more modest conception of man and of politics than has characterized the past two centuries. This modesty as yet assumes only a precarious form in postmodern thoug ht, but ways are suggested here by which it may be reinforced. In part icular, so far as politics are concerned, the postmodern stress upon d ifference appears to point towards a rediscovery of the contemporary r elevance of the classical ideal of civil association. It is this ideal which represents the most effective means of coming to terms with the 'new politics' which postmodernism represents - the politics, that is , of 'inclusion', devoted to hitherto excluded sexual, racial, and eco logical issues. In so far as this interpretation of postmodernism is a plausible one, it lends some support to the view of Agnes Heller and Ferenc Feher that we may be entering an era of 'settling in', followin g upon the era of ideology. To give their precise words: 'If modernity is the drama of permanent revolution, postmodernity may be characteri zed as the epic of settling-in.' (The Postmodern Political Condition, p.158.) Out of the disintegration of philosophy and the critique of li beral foundational doctrine, then, it may be that the way is being pav ed for a more viable framework for limited politics.