The Sun was contacted by a Post-Modernist debtor (PMD) who is upset with a bank that loaned him a substantial amount of money. The bank insists that PMD must repay the money he was loaned.
PMD: I’ve tried everything to make them understand. I mean, if I don’t exist, then how could my loan exist? So obviously, it doesn’t. But these uneducated fools have no grasp of philosophy or meta-narratives.
Sun: You sound frustrated.
PMD: You better believe it. Every college freshman knows Foucault taught that it’s meaningless to speak in the name of — or against — Reason, Truth, or Knowledge. So these bankers must be high-school dropouts.
What about the Signature?
Sun: Did you sign a loan agreement?
PMD: My lived experience of signing those documents is unquestionable. But since there’s no shared reality, it has nothing to do with the bank.
Sun: In the loan agreement, you committed to keeping specific promises.
PMD: Words have no objective meaning. I could show them a different meaning for every word in those loan documents.
What is Post-Modernism?
Sun: What is post-modernism, anyway?
PMD: The incredulity of meta-narratives; that there’s no objective truth.
Sun: The bank seems incredulous of your meta-narrative.
PMD: Nice try. But I don’t buy into that logical self-contradiction nonsense.
Sun: You call it nonsense, but the lived experience of most in the western world is to call it logic.
PMD: Whatever floats your boat.
What about the Money?
Sun: Did you receive the money for the loan?
PMD: Again, the lived experience of receiving the money was excellent. But that’s my truth, not theirs.
Sun: Wouldn’t the bank have the same feeling if you repaid them?
PMD: Sure, but the experience they’ll have if I don’t repay them is just as valid. In the meantime, they’re making my life miserable.
Sun: If nothing exists, then neither does the bank’s non-acknowledgment or the misery you feel. So, there is literally nothing to be upset about, either way, correct?
PMD: Those are all valid points, thank you. In fact, it’s the first time anyone besides myself has said anything sensical on the matter.
Power Authenticates?
Sun: Don’t post-modernist professors say that truth conditions can’t be discovered, so it falls to those in power to authenticate the provisional truth?
PMD: Exactly, and since the bank doesn’t have the power to repay themselves, it falls to me to say what’s true! By the way, can I borrow $100k
Sun: If only we could authenticate the existence or meaning of your question.
