Humanism and Post Structuralism

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HUMANISM AND POST STRUCTURALISM Introduction The creation and the existence of meaning has been a continuous debatable topic. Ideas and theories have been established over time, creating large-scale systems of meaning-making, namely the two most common systems being humanism and post-structuralism (Sullivan- reading, 2013). These two predominant systems have both been central to the development of Western culture, in which particularly the beliefs, values and practices of humanism have become naturalised and a part of society’s everyday life. One of the ideas extending from humanism is its claim that meaning already exists in the thing itself, in which language is an external structure that simply labels and categorises the things that already exist (Sullivan-reading 2013; Law 2011). On the contrary, Post-structuralism poses against the humanist idea, expressing meaning as being constructed and an object does not possess any kind of essence in which meaning exists. Furthermore, post-structuralism suggests that language is essential for meaning to exist within a thing and that historical, cultural and social aspects are influential in constituting to meaning (Sullivan-reading 2013; Sarup 1993). In this essay, the opposing perspectives of both systems will be analysed and discussed by exploring ideas presented in the short film, ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ (YouTube, ), an example which puts both ideas from humanism and post-structuralism into visual perspectives. Humanism In pre-humanist Western culture of the 14th -17th century (Renaissance period) (Sullivan-reading, 2013), God was believed to be the origin of the universe and the central of meaning. It was God who created the purpose to all things, and made meaningful of man and their position in the scheme of things. Supported by the system of the Great Chain of Being, the system illustrated everything and

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