This paper is the first part of a series of two papers explaining the concept of postmodernism. The aim is to investigate into the concept of postmodern philosophical thought as a source of inspiration and ideas that may assist us in understanding the problems facing our society. The paper begins with the unravelling of the confusion surrounding the label of ‘postmodernism’ before beginning the exploration of the concept of postmodernism. The approach adopted for this exploration is to classify postmodernism into three distinct but interrelated concepts: one, postmodernism as an epoch; two, postmodernism as a signifier of the problematical features or the limits of modernity; and three, postmodernism as a reaction to or a departure from modernity. This paper investigates into the first two concepts of postmodernism. The third concept: ‘postmodernism as a reaction to or a departure from modernity’ has been introduced here but will be discussed in detail in the sequel to this paper to be published in a later