The Erasure of the “Real” by the “Hyperreal” in Postmodernity through Jean Baudrillard’s "Mode of Apprehension"
The Erasure of the “Real” by the “Hyperreal” in Postmodernity through Jean Baudrillard’s "Mode of Apprehension"
by
Abstract
This article exposes the views of the French philosophical theorist, Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007), in relation to the dramatic shifts wrought to the world after being swamped with infinite forms of mass culture, ranging from mass production and consumerism to the invasion of the virtual cybernetic life to man’s reality across the globe. It is postmodernity as a condition characterized generally by the superabundance of quantitative provision whether of goods or leisure that Baudrillard seeks to study. This paper sets focus on Baudrillard’s conceptualization of the ‘‘real’’ in such a postmodern condition where he deems is kept shrunk, dissipated and eventually erased altogether by the omnipotent might of the ‘‘hyperreal.’’ The latter substitutes the ‘‘real’’ while incorporating in it infinite contrarieties of profound alternatives and never-ending options offered to man, on the one hand, countered by the sheer absence of referentiality, representation and even originality, on the other.
Published in
Licensing Information
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non–Commercial No Derivatives License which permits noncommercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of the Publisher must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
