The real problem for postmodernism

This essay is a critique of postmodernism and its relationship to family th erapy. It is argued that the strengths of a postmodern approach (its relati vism and narrative focus) are not unique but shared by traditions, modern a nd antiquarian, which the advocates of postmodernism now seek to displace b oth in the academy and the clinic. The negative baggage of accepting the em erging postmodernist orthodoxy is created, in the main, by the abandonment of a realist ontology. A Variety of points are made about the relationship between postmodernism and general systems theory to highlight this point. A t the end, critical or sceptical social realism is offered as a positive al ternative to naive realism or postmodernism. Some notes are made in conclus ion about the implications of the essay's arguments for family therapists.