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The translation of Lyotard's work into English in 1984 marked an important stage in the globalization of the modernity/postmodernity debate involving the central thinkers of the late 20th century, Michel Foucault, Jurgen Habermas, Richard Rorty, and others. This collection of 10 essays brings together for the first time a number of contributions on Lyotard's work made by philosophers, educationalists, and sociologists in the English-speaking world around the special focus of education. The intent behind the essays from scholars in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand is to examine Lyotard's notion of the postmodern condition and its relevance and special significance for the field of education. Lyotard's work, first published in Paris in 1979, was important in that it developed a particularly original interpretation of the state of knowledge in the most highly developed societies, reviewing and synthesizing a wide range of material on contemporary science, the sociology of postindustrial society and studies of postmodern culture. Lyotard brought together diverse threads and separate literatures in a prophetic analysis that signalled an epochal break with the so-called modern era.
List of contents
Postmodern Education and the Politics of Backlash by Henry A. Giroux, Series Editor's Introduction
Foreword by Jean-François Lyotard
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Lyotard, Education, and the Postmodern Condition by Michael Peters
The Loss of Innocence: Lyotard, Foucault, and the Challenge of Postmodern Education by William Bain
Legitimation Problems: Knowledge and Education in the Postmodern Condition by Michael Peters
Lyotard and Rorty on the Role of the Professor by A.T. Nuyen
From Pragmatism to the Differend by J.M. Fritzman
Postmodern Feminisms by Carol Nicholson
Critical Pedagogy and the Pragmatics of Justice by Peter McLaren
Lyotard, Postmodernity, and Education: A Critical Evaluation by John Hinkson
Is Education at the End of a Sovereign Story or at the Beginning of Another? Cultural Political Possibilities and Lyotard by Barry Kanpol
Pedagogy and Apedagogy: Lyotard and Foucault at Vincennes by James Marshall
From Emancipation to Obligation: Sketch for a Heteronomous Politics of Education by Bill Readings
Index
About the author
MICHAEL PETERS is Professor of Education, Auckland University, New Zealand.
