The nature and import of discrimination in adult education are examined from a postmodern perspective. That perspective is self-consciously informed by an understanding of the interpretative nature of human perception; the contextualization and fragmentation of belief, meaning, and being; and the de-differentiated and generalized nature of contemporary communication. Postmodernism problematizes important modernist beliefs, especially the distinction between discriminative perception and action, the individualistic focus of discriminative criteria, the distinction between discriminatively relevant and nonrelevant criteria, the principle of partiality, and the location of discriminative responsibility. It denies any necessary relationship between discrimination and both conservatism and injustice. Postmodernist discrimination indicates the value of situational sensitivity as a principle and a goal constraining adult education practice. Situational sensitivity constitutes a responsiveness to the particularities of lived events. It encompasses the concepts of critical self-awareness, tolerance and humility, knowledge diversity, and the negotiation of discriminative realities.
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