AFRIKANER VALUES IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA: AN ...

27
of a word (or a concept) no longer indicates the timeless essence of that word, but rather
the use of a particular word (or concept) within a specific context.
Post-modernism acknowledges that the modernistic concept of an intellectual as a person
who concerns him- or herself with the essential, universal or eternal values, makes an
important contribution in focusing attention on the problem of standards, which are
needed as a criterion in order to pass judgments; on the problem of objectivism and
relativism; and on the problem of the historical relationship between the universal and
the particular – for example, between a regulative ideal and the particular forms in which
this ideal is manifested in practice.
One could say, with regard to the use of a specific concept or definition, that the
universal needs a particular embodiment, such as a discourse within a paradigm; but that
the universal cannot necessarily always be identified with such an embodiment or
discourse – and nor is it imperative that it should be equated to any particular paradigm.
Post-modern theorists share this feeling of existential crisis. The implications/dangers of
unlimited scientific rationality (technology) and avaricious individualism cannot be
rectified by an ostensibly rational set of shared values and principles such as human
rights (Lyotard 1984:18-24). For example, universally held rational rules and principles
have not been successful in reducing or regulating conflict between plural communities,
due to the fact that irrational thought patterns and behaviour is an fundamental part of
human conduct. More, each challenge at universal rationality has the effect of cancelling
out and silencing the various minority perspectives that exist. Rationality is often nothing
more than an effective smoke screen that camouflages the application of power and
domination (Horkheimer 1972:43 and Reason & Rowan 1981:489).
Given the emphasis on discourse within a post-modernistic background, and the
connection that this study has with dialogue, it is imperative to indicate that discourse
represents the essence of a paradigm (Foucault 1986:12-14). Foucault states that a
paradigm is the conceptual framework or manifestation through which the complexity of
reality is made assessable (after the definitions of Cresswell 1994:18; Denzin & Lincoln
2000:157; Erasmus 1996:16-18; Mason 1995:34; Moore 1996:179 and Stanage 1987:11,
for more particulars as well). Thus, it now becomes necessary to introduce the research