Jean-Francois Lyotard and his theory of postmodernity

J.-F. Lyotard had a significant influence on the debate about "postmodernity"/ "postmodernism", and his book "The State of Postmodernism" became one of the most important philosophical writings in which this term was used. However, Lyotard's position is often viewed simplistically, and Lyotard is described as a typical "postmodernist", but not a theorist using the concept of "postmodern". The concept of "postmodernism" as the decline of the great narratives of Enlightenment developed in science in the context of the political defeat of the left in the late 1960s and early 1970s, under the influence of the latest theories of science by Thomas Kuhn and Paul Feyerabend, the linguistic theory of John Austin, theories of transition to a post-industrial society, as well as in the framework of a dispute with Jurgen Habermas. Lyotard called modern science, legitimized by external ideological discourses, "meta-narratives": that is, postmodern science, in his opinion, is only one of the "language games" for which the principle of effectiveness is sufficient. The comparative analysis is used as a research method in the article. Lyotard's theory is considered in the light of criticism by Fredrik Jamieson, Terry Eagleton, and Frank Webster. As a result of the study, the authors conclude that J.F. Lyotard's understanding of postmodernity is devoid of integrity: if in science he records a paradigm shift, then in culture modernity is postulated by him as a kind of cyclical principle of renewal, in which postmodernity acts as a phase of renewal and the generation of a new stage of modernity. Lyotard distinguished between productive "postmodernism" and negative, subordinated to the logic of capital. According to F. Jamieson and T. Eagleton, J.F. Lyotard could not prove why the new anarchist science should not become a victim of the principle of economic rationality. The French philosopher was not only forced to ignore capitalist and national narratives, but also transferred, according to Jamieson, unfulfilled aspirations about modern culture as an autonomous critical locus to science. The popularization of Lyotard's views in academic science turned his thesis about the death of "big narratives" into a kind of ideological framework.

Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, postmodernity, postmodernism, modernity, the end of grand narratives, the Enlightenment, history of concepts, capitalism, philosophy of science