Synthesis of Cultural Forms as the Key Paradigm of the Postmodern and Metamodern Eras

Abstract

The postmodern era is being replaced by the metamodern era. A number of authors
consider the question of the evolution of postmodernism as a continuation of the development of
postmodernism in the new aesthetic paradigm of metamodern (Robin Akker, Alexander Pavlov,
Hansi Freinacht). The necessity for reflecting on the state of culture in the 21st century has determined
the relevance of this work. In order to understand the specificity of the metamodern culture, it is
necessary to know its foundations; the idea of pluralization being one of them. Therefore, the
subject of the analysis is the reflection on postmodern philosophers and their view on integration of
knowledge and cultural forms.
The purpose of the article is to examine the idea of the synthesis of cultural forms in the
philosophy of postmodernism to understand the specificity of its implementation in metamodern
culture. The turn to the conception of integration of knowledge and cultural forms in postmodernism
provides deeper understanding of metamodern culture. The authors highlight the following features
of the synthesis of cultural forms in the metamodern era: digitalization of the cultural space; the
synergy of art and everyday life; the trend for the pluralism of values. The contours of development
of pluralistic paradigm in 21st century culture is identified. It is noted that in the present day we
may observe the process of integration of various forms of culture in different spheres of social
life. Pluralism becomes the key paradigm of the metamodern era. Consequently, the postmodern
idea of synthesis is actualized in the metamodern culture, i.e., a development of postmodern culture
processes takes.

Keywords: postmodern era, philosophy of postmodernism, post-postmodern style, metamodern
style, pluralistic paradigm of culture