The mark of this is a suspicion of all claims to universal truth. Such claims have to be deconstructed. Each one suppresses the claims of the previous one to know truth and imposes its own rule. There are no overarching criteria by which these regimes can be judged. The ultimate factor in history, as Nietzsche saw it, is the will to power.
Violence is the fundamental element of human life and history.
The modern age began with the daring program of Descartes to meet the need to banish skepticism by establishing the method by which indubitable certainty could be obtained. It is ironic that this method has led us directly into the profound skepticism of the postmodern world. The greatest product of the modern age is the work of science, a work which has transformed the human situation and continues to do so. Yet there is now a profound skepticism about science itself. In spite of all the tremendous achievements of modern technology, there is a growing perception that science and technology are no substitute for wisdom.