It is impossible to say that there are no universal truths without the statement “there are no universal truths” being universal. Postmodernism’s answer to the big philosophical questions about life is that there are no universal answers to these questions, which is a universal answer against universal answers. The idea of rejecting all meta-narratives, whether spiritual or scientific is a meta-narrative it’s self. However, for the postmodern thinker both of these are tainted ways of knowing because the people who have the power are the ones who provide the answers within the meta-narrative. Evolution is grounded in empirical data collected in a scientific manner. In addition, by what authority do the people who provide meta-narratives have the right to provide these answers? Religious meta-narrative are grounded in the belief of a higher power and or spiritual experiences, in other words, the source is authoritative. Whoever provided the answer is asserting authority over other people who either choose to believe or were coerced the accept. This is partially due to the fact that postmodernism is suspicious of who provided the answers to the questions in meta-narratives. Postmodernism is an enemy of meta-narratives.

What both religion and science have in common is a desire to try to answer some of these big questions will approaching them from different angles. Since the existence of God does not play by the rules of science in terms of how to know what is true, this it implies that there is evidence that perhaps God does not exists. The denial of God in evolution is due to a lack of evidence that meets the criteria set by empiricism. This meta-narrative has its own explanation of the creation of man, perhaps an implied meaning of what is moral, what is true, and a denial of a higher power that shaped the world. The ideas of this meta-narrative has led to billions choosing to claim this meta-narrative as the anchor of their beliefs as well as a church structure that has been around for over 2,000 years.Īnother example of a meta-narrative, at least for some, would be the theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin. Within Christianity, there is a belief in God along with a teaching that the world will eventually end with some living for ever. For example, Christianity provides answers about reality, the creation of man, truth, strong position on morals and more. Many meta-narratives attempt to answer these questions along with others. The answer to these questions help to provide legitimacy for a society and or religion. In many ways, meta-narratives try to provide answers to the big philosophical questions about life examples of these questions, along with the branch of philosophy they may be derived from are as follows.

A meta-narrative is a narrative or story about the stories/narratives in a society’s culture that attempts to give meaning to life and experiences. The term meta-narrative is a rather young term with its existence being dated from the early 20th century. We will also look at meta-narratives in connection with postmodernism. Some of these questions include why are we here?, where are we going?, why is the world like this? This post will explore the ideas behind meta-narratives, which often play a role in attempting to answer these philosophical questions. There are questions about life that are hard to answer.

Meta narrative in film meaning