The question of how the postmodern would have an impact on the everyday concerns of adult educators can be approached through analysis of three fundamental and persistent concerns evident in the literature of adult education pedagogy. First, the idea of autonomous or self-directed learning is firmly entrenched in contemporary thinking about adult education. Postmodern views of how identity, or the "self," is shaped are appealing because they offer an explanation of how social structures become embedded in individual identity, while pointing to the potential for psychological resistance. Second, the adult education literature has placed a great deal of emphasis on the importance of establishing an appropriate "adult" teacher-learner relationship. Although the humanistic approach to the adult teacher-learner relationship may be criticized for its neutrality, the postmodern approach is open to the charge of indifference in the sense that it is not prepared to privilege any particular position. Third, the importance and centrality of experience as a foundation for adult education practice is widely accepted. The idea of learning from experience certainly contains postmodern tendencies especially if learners are seen as the principal producers of knowledge through immersion in practice. Elements of the postmodern condition are certainly present in adult education pedagogy. What is unclear is whether postmodernism is the best way to describe these ideas and practices. (Contains 17 references.) (YLB)