Oldal 32 [32]
OCR
30 I THE Puttosopuy or Eco-Po rics communication which can no longer be tied to a place: these simply take no notice of the existence of nations. How dare a political community living within borders of one kind or another limit the right of a (corporate) empire or an (informational) camarilla to dispose as it sees fit of the land of others, the treasures of the soil and people’s desires, convictions and labour? In the eyes of the technocrats and cosmopolitans of our age, this idea seems just as absurd as it once did to the jurists of absolute monarchy. The great invention of enlightened modernity, the nation, no longer unites the heirs of the common historical fate: the supporters of free trade and the prophets of world revolution would both gladly throw it as outdated tripe on the rubbish heap of history. National belonging no longer provides the frame of reference for selfidentification. It does not help bridge the gap between people who live together but speak many languages, belong to various ethnicities and live in different social situations. This revives the importance of such premodern markers of identity as skin colour, origin and religion, while livelihood and asserting oneself in society often depend more on success in transnational networks. Citizenship, place of residence and work and nationality diverge for an increasing number of people: they live in communities divided along multiple lines, with multiple identities. The local knowledge which hitherto united cultural communities has become folklore: possibly worthy of respect but a useless antique nonetheless, in contrast with the knowledge of the educated, which is effectively the same at any point of the world (as was once the knowledge of Christianity and the Early Modern humanists) and can be shared with anyone who speaks the Latin of our age, English. ‘The world works according to predictable laws. Whoever makes his calculations correctly, has power over things. This is the great recognition of the age of Descartes, Bacon, Kepler and Spinoza, that knowledge is power. The relation of knowledge and power is today seen in a new (but nonetheless suspiciously familiar) light, thanks to postmodern philosophy, which emphasises the impossibility of giving scientific statements an ultimate foundation. In the opinion of Jean-Francois Lyotard, the mutually incomparable language games (previously: "truths") will be judged by their own performance." This is a valid truth, which increases the performance of the given system (theory, economic system, government). Ihe program of the Enlightenment, that truth 2 Jean-Francios Lyotard: The Postmodern Condition: a Report on Knowledge. Manchester University Press, Manchester 1984.
