Politics of Differend in Jean-François Lyotard
Abstract
A differend is a case of conflict. With these words Jean François Lyotard introduces his "book of philosophy" (philosophical, not theoretical book), as a dispute of phrases - there are only universes phrase, writes Lyotard - which cannot be composed according to shared rules, which cannot be ordered according to recognized procedures. The essay aims to explore the dimension of conflict in Lyotard's thought, starting from the stakes as presented in «The Differend»: in conflict something is reduced to silence, but precisely for this reason it demands to be put into phrase. What is silenced is precisely what asks to speak. The purpose is therefore to reject the current opinion according to which in the postmodern horizon, that Lyotard contributed determining with his writings (starting from the famous «The postmodern condition»), the conflicting elements of politics would be dissolved in an aesthetic way, or a banally relativistic one. Within a polemical framework towards universals such as "man" or "language", Lyotard's thought ultimately maintains a strong ethical tension and a robust critical vocation.
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