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Establishing the relevance of Jean-Francois Lyotard's philosophy to contemporary politics
It is largely the political dimension to Jean-François Lyotard's work that singles him out from his poststructuralist and postmodernist contemporaries. He is invariably 'thinking politics', concerned to find ways of translating philosophical thought into a basis for political action. Lyotard's work as a whole represents a consistent critique of the power structures of contemporary culture; this book ranges through his extensive oeuvre to establish him as the most politically-committed of contemporary sceptical thinkers. Sim applies the 'little narrative' notion to current ideological struggles, and explores how Lyotard's brand of pragmatism can provide a focus for political theory and action in a cultural climate featuring a resurgence of right-wing extremism.
Stuart Sim is retired Professor of Critical Theory at Northumbria University. He has published widely on critical theory, and is a Fellow of the English Association. He has edited
The Lyotard Dictionary (2011) and
The Edinburgh Companion to Critical Theory (2016), and has written several monographs including The End of Modernity (2010) and Addicted to Profit (2012).
List of contents
1. Introduction: Thinking Politics with Lyotard Lyotard's Style
Notes
2. 'Philosophical Politics' in the 21st CenturyPhilosophers and Intellectuals
Lyotard's Postmodernism
Peregrinations: Thinking Politics Fluidly
Left Populism
Posthegemony and Populism
Little Narratives and Liberal Democracy
Philosophers Against the System
Notes
3. Relativism and the Problem of Value JudgementJust Relativising
Judging Fascism
Judging Lyotard
Pragmatic Relativism
Conclusion
Notes
4. Lyotard and the Post-Marxist Turn
The Rise of Post-Marxism
Algeria: The Limits of Marxist Thought
Libidinal Economy: Marx and Desire
The Answer to Grand Narrative:
The Postmodern Condition
The Viability of Post-Marxism
Conclusion
Notes
5. The Politics of the DifferendThe Archipelago and Differends
Gender and the Differend
The Nation State and the Differend
Internal Differends
Conclusion
Notes
6. The Politics of HeideggerFarías on Heidegger
Derrida on Heidegger
Lyotard and the Sin of Forgetting
Lyotard as Anti-Populist
Scapegoating and 'the Jews'
Heidegger Post-Lyotard
Notes
7. Thinking the Politics of the Future
Of Cyborgs and Cybernetic Systems
'Can Thought Go On Without a Body?'
Corporate Power and Robot Labour
The End is Nigh
Notes
8. Aesthetics and PoliticsDuchamp and Aesthetic Indeterminacy
Modernisms and Postmodernisms
Newman: No Allusions
Monory: No Story
Lyotard on Literature
Lyotard on Film
Lyotard on Television
Lyotard on Music
Conclusion
Notes
9. Conclusion: Towards a Politics of the EventLiving with Events
Svelte Politics
Pagan Politics
Reassessing the Event
Lyotard as a Work of Art
Dissension and Invention
'How to Judge Jean-François Lyotard?'
Notes
Bibliography, Index
About the author
Stuart Sim is retired Professor of Critical Theory at Northumbria University. He has published widely on critical theory, and is a Fellow of the English Association. Amongst his recent publications are The Lyotard Dictionary (2011), Addicted to Profit: Reclaiming Our Lives from the Free Market (2012), Fifty Key Postmodern Thinkers (2013), and, with Brett Wilson and Barbara Hawkins (eds) Art, Science & Cultural Understanding (2014).
Summary
Stuart Sim explores how Lyotard's brand of pragmatism can provide a focus for political theory and action in our cultural climate, especially in light of the dramatic resurgence of right-wing extremism.
