"Postmodernity, one may say, is modernity without illusionsâ€" (Bauman, p. 32). To what extent would you say this absence of illusions characterizes not only Bauman's Postmodern Ethics but also Freud's Civilization And Its Discontents?
             Postmodernity, according to Zygmunt Bauman, is characterized simply as modernity without illusions. Bauman believes strongly that being true and being postmodern are two directly related situations. Postmodernism, as Bauman states, is the state in which people, without a doubt, "knowâ€" the truth around them. People living in a post-modern world make ethical decisions knowing that, ultimately, the world is completely ambiguous and undefined. Occurrences that happen in the post-modern world as described by Bauman happen not with a predetermined solution or a preplanned consequence. A post-modern world involves a concept that, as Bauman states, most philosophers cannot conceive of - an " unprincipled' morality, a morality without foundationsâ€" (Bauman, p. 32).
             Since Bauman defines postmodernity as modernity without illusions, one must therefore conclude as to what, exactly, this lacking illusion is. Using Bauman's definition, "knowing that to be the truth is to be postmodernâ€" (Bauman, p. 32). Therefore, when one frees oneself of illusions, uncertainties, and falsenesses, one can then be truly postmodern. Bauman states that all people have a slightly different set of morals and standards, that there is no set code of ethics for mankind in general. However, Bauman's definition of these illusions boils down to the fact that there is a certain chaotic order in the world that cannot quite be defined or fixed. This "messinessâ€" of the world will never be fixed or replaced by whatever reason man may have; this chaos will stay and, the truth is, the messy world will affect the decisions that man makes at all times. It is this illusion, th...