Lyotard and Politics

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).