Today's "postmodernism" refers ambivalently to two different sources, the "reason" of enlightenment and the "modern" aesthetics of the late nineteenth Century. The article discusses two main points: Certain strong analogies between "postmodernism" and fin de siecle literature, art and philosophy on the one hand, systematic implications of postmodern critique of reason on the other hand. "Modern" theories of education depend on the philosophy of enlightenment which has to be defended against decadence and pessimism in a way that surpasses classical ethics and aesthetics so that "postmodernism" can be met even in pedagogy.