A new enlightenment

Poststructuralism has an important role to play in a new enlightenment. A fresh movement is required to restore the role of creative and critical thought in all aspects of life. Poststructuralist works excel in this critical function due to their varied, rigorous and deep questioning of traditions and structures. But their role is not solely negative. They also stand out in the multiple ways in which they redefine creativity in relation to a creative staleness and lack of impact. Radical critique and creativity go hand in hand. In relation to them, thought becomes more mobile and flexible. It thereby also becomes a greater force for change.

Since its beginnings in the eighteenth century, enlightenment, or the use of reason in knowledge, ethics and the arts, has had constructive and destructive roles, although both must be seen as positive in the fight against the enemies of deep thought. Destructively, enlightenment defends thought against all forms of dogmatism (the belief in unexamined or false ideas and values). It also defends life against the absence of critical and creative thought, that is, against inertia and stupidity. Finally, it fights against the misuse of thought in a deliberate defence or spreading of falsehoods, for example, in a pandering to ungrounded fears for personal gain or power.

Positively, enlightenment contributes to the construction of open ways of life based on critical thought. To do this it contributes to the creation of ideas that foster forms of life resistant to negative influences such as dogmatism and the self-interested preservation of false ideas.