IS POSTMODERNISM IN NEED OF ENLIGHTENMENT? REVISITING ROUSSEAU’S IDEAS ON LANGUAGE, EDUCATION, AND ART

Apstrakt

This discussion highlights the enduring relevance of Rousseau’s discourses on language, education, and art by contrasting their ideals with the destabilizing effects of Postmodernism, such as simulacra and hyperreality. Namely, Postmodernism has attempted to discard its predecessors, leading to profound shifts in how we conceptualize communication, education, and artistic expression. Language, whose origin and history reveal its potential for genuine understanding, is now often instrumentalized for manipulation and misrepresentation. Education, once aligned with virtue and self-actualization, is increasingly viewed through the lens of power dynamics and commodification, prioritizing utilitarian training over intellectual and moral growth. Art, which Rousseau envisioned as a pursuit of spiritual and aesthetic perfection, is frequently reduced to market-driven sensationalism. The paper, therefore, argues that revisiting Rousseau’s ideals holds the potential to restore integrity and stability to these essential domains through the proper conceptualization of the notion “enlightenment” that transcends nominalism, embracing genuine intellectual and spiritual llumination. Such a revitalization is crucial for fostering individual and collective self-realization in an era marked by epistemic uncertainty and cultural fragmentation.