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Explores the thought of Duns Scotus in shedding light on the "postmodern" phase of history. It is argued that Scotist thought set the stage for modernity, which raises the question as to whether Scotist innovations might contribute to a break in modernity. In this light, the origins & nature of modernity are reconsidered, linking Cartesian & Kantian innovations to shifts in Latin scholasticism. Scotus worked to level the finite & the infinite into a univocal being, a combination of the virtual & the discontinuous that leads to a radical break with rationalism. Scotus's impact on theology is examined, & his anticipation of postmodernity in theology demonstrated. In terms of the representation paradigm, Scotus is seen to have encouraged the tendency to logicize & semanticize metaphysics. While Aquinas begins to qualify metaphysics with logic in theology, Scotus also enhanced the logic & grammer therein, but took it much further. The question of whether postmodernity is more fundamental than modernity is taken up before engaging with Alain Badiou's thought vis-a-vis the ideas of Emmanual Levinas, Jacques Derrida, & Gilles Delueze. It is argued that it is ultimately illogical in both the application of philosophy & of theology to support the "postmodern" against the "modern" Scotus. L. A. Hoffman

Argues that the antimodernist impulse of populism, which has historically been denigrated in mainstream culture, assumes greater legitimacy under postmodern conditions in which the concept of progress has been discredited. Against interpretations of populism as inherently xenophobic, modern defenders of populism are described as seeking a postmodern model of communal life in which the organicity of communities assumes special importance. It is suggested that this populist vision is an effort to reconstruct the kind of individuality that disintegrated in the face of modern conditions of social life. John Dewey's pragmatic theory of experience is considered as the closest approximation to this postmodern populist ideal. Finally, the work of Carl Schmitt (1950) is employed as a starting point for a more explicitly political theory of postmodern populism. D. M. Smith

Rosen reviews 'Postmodern Platos' by Catherine H. Zuckert.