[Ailist] AI & Postmodernism

[Lionel Boxer]

Fiurther to Parashu in light of Jane Magruder Watkins's comments

Perhaps I misunderstand what postmodernism is.

An interesting comment was made to me by a business school professor (a statistician) "if you use postmodernism dont forget that you will have to find someone to referee your PhD - so you do not want it to be too weird".  I am not sure if that is a reflection on business schools, the university he was from, statisticians, or the professor.

One oif my cohort business faculty PhD students submitted his thesis in a big cardboard box in an effort to be a postmodernist.  His intention was to be postmodern.  I told him when he started that he was brave.  By the time the administrators, referees and regulators were through with him he had written and bound a traditional disertation/ thesis,which he included as one of the artifacts that he had put in the box.  The thesis provided an introduction, literature review, method, data collection, conclusion, extensions, and so on.  So, in the end he could have left out the box and the artifacts, and just crunched a bunch of survey data through a statistical data analysis software package for the same business school PhD.

I on the other hand used discursive data, which I analysed with a social constructionist (harre's positioning theory) framework under the veil of a realist research paradigm driving a retroductive strategy.  Not postmodernism in the sense that it scared the positivists, mind you, they still thought it was a little weird.  As Rom Harre says, "I know some behaviouralists - they are nice people".  I had not heard of Ai, but I am sure that if I did use that the business schoolians would have bundled me up and sent me to the fine arts department.  Then again, some fine arts academics question whether or not there is anything at all academic about business schools.

Is there hope for postmodernism beyond the postmodernist untopians in the real world of positivism?

If you want to read an enjoyable thesis see http://intergon.net/phd or for a real tonge in cheek approach to business see my book: The Sustainable Way http://intergon.net/tsw or http://www.myspace.com/thesustainableway (turn up the volume), which is an effort to turn my PhD into a novel to help business leaders become more postmodern.

So, I suppose if you are planning to pursue a PhD harnessing postmodernism you want to understand the context of your specific academy and faculty, and determine whether or not the academics you will be subjected to for three or four years can cope with postmodernism.  If not, save the postmodernism for post-doctorial pursuits.

I have always admired the work of Ken and David and Jane and the rest of those on this list, but we tend to be extraordinary in the ordinary world of academia.

;-)

Lionel Boxer CD PhD MBA BTech(IndEng) - 0411267256
Associate of RMIT University - lionel.boxer at rmit.edu.au
Graduate School of Business
What's up?: http://intergon.net/events.html
The Sustainable Way: http://intergon.net/tsw

>>> "Jane Magruder Watkins" <jane at appreciativeinquiryunlimited.com> 11/05/2008 4:11 am >>>
Dear Parashu:

I have a story for you. When I first met David in the mid-1980's as he was
finishing his PhD at Case, I was very interested in learning more about his
work. He said, "I'll send you a copy of the book that started me on this
journey into post-modernism." I have to admit that I didn't have a clue who
Ken Gergen was and didn't know a great deal about post-modern thought. A few
days later, a Xeroxed copy of Ken's first book arrived (it was out of print
at the time) and I began my journey with David into the world of AI!

It was Ken's work that sent David on this journey -- post modern for sure!

Best to you,

Jane

Jane Magruder Watkins & Ralph Kelly
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-----Original Message-----
From: ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu 
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu] On Behalf Of Parashu Ram
Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 10:18 AM
To: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu 
Subject: [Ailist] AI & Postmodernism

Dear All
I am in search of materials that can prove that AI is a postmodern theory.
Can anybody help me with the resources (websites/url or any other) that help
me to find out the linkage between AI & Postmodernism? If you have written
any article on the subject, that will also help me. 

Appreciatively
Parashu Ram Timalsina
Nepal