History of Ideas Exam

Shareen Khan

HOI 3

Sir Saad Shakeel

1 February 2021
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Modernism

Modernism is a movement that emerged from the cultural changes in the Western Society

during the late 18th and early 20th Century. It is a philosophical movement. The factors that gave rise

to modernism ware the horror of World War 1, quick growth of cities and the development of modern

industrial societies. Modernism was based on a belief of moving forward and progress in society. It

was based on the utopian vision of human life. Principles and truth formulated by religion or science

could be used to explain or understand reality. Modernism is a way of making something new and

looking at logical rational and science. All the Modernist mostly wrote on the same context and a

universal truth. 1

Post Modernism

Post modernism arose in the second half of the 20th Century and it was a major western

philosophical movement. It addressed an issue of rationalism. It is in response to the assumption

regarding the culture, identity, or history which were developed during the 18 th Century. The post-

modernist thinkers question the importance of the power relationships, investigation the construction

of truth and world views. They deny objective reality and its moral values. Basically modernist

recognizes that the modern world has reached its end and to thick rationally and intellectually. They

deny that a human nature exists and that moving forward is for the betterment of the society. Science

and technology can make the world a better place to live and easily. Post modernists focused on

understanding the relationship between text and meaning that power and ideology play in shaping

discourse and beliefs. It was generally originated in France. Post Modernists are skeptical about the

complex spectral characteristics of things and the importance of the problem of distinctive concepts so

that the concept could be understood in the concept of its opposite.2

1
Lumens Candela, “The Rise of Modernism | Boundless Art History,” accessed February 15, 2021,
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-arthistory/chapter/the-rise-of-modernism/.
2
“Postmodern Philosophy - Wikipedia,” accessed February 15, 2021,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postmodern_philosophy.
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Jean Francois Lyotard

Biography

Jean Francis Lyotard was born in France on 1924.He as the son of a sales man Jean Perre

Lyotard. When he was in Paris Lycees where he was schooling, he had dreams and hopes of making a

Dominican monk, a painter, a historian or a novelist. During the outcry of Second World War he

worked a doctor to treat the people who were hurt during the war. Lyotard studied literature and

philosophy at the Sarbonne University in Paris. He became a father. During his studies he was very

weak at memorizing and was lacking talent. He could not become a painter nor a historian. During the

dissertation in M.A he produced an “Indifference as an Ethical Nation”. Lyotard published a study on

phenomenology which had almost ten editions and he was appointed as a professor at a Lyce in

Constantine. He teaches philosophy. Lyotard came to Algeria at the time of the Algerian Revolution

that would conquer France in 1962.He went through the work of Marx when he arrived. When the

revolution began in 1954 he joined socialism and barbarism. Lyotard served in the army as a political

militant in the next 15 years. He wrote may works which were later collected in the Political Writings.

Jean Francis returned to Paris in 1959 and became an assistant at the Sarbonne. He was given a

position in the philosophy department at the University of Paris X Nanterre. In 1901-1981 Lyotard

attended many seminars of the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. After that he was against the

Marxism metanarrative. In 1969 he published a Discourse Figure and earned a degree in doctorate.

Lyotard joined the radical University in Vincennes. He also published a book “my evil book. In 1979

he published the “postmodernism Condition”. He became famous and gained famed from this book.

Lyotard gave lecture all over the world. Lyotard was a major contributor to the College International

in the Philosophy and the college was located in Paris. In 1979 and 1983 Lyotard published Au Juste

and The Differend. Jean François Lyotard work was The Inhuman which was published in

1988.Soundproof room by Lyotard was published in 1998.It was based on aesthetics. Lyotard was a

French philosopher and his writing was based on the dominance of Marxism. He died of leukemia in

Paris in 1988.3

3
“Jean François Lyotard (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy),” accessed February 18, 2021,
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/lyotard/.
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Modernity

Modernity was followed by the period of renaissance and was from Eighteen century

onwards. It is the political, economic rationalization and ethics of the social world. The social,

economic and political system came in to being in the west is called modernity.

Postmodernity

Postmodernity refers to the stages of social development that were based on industrialization.

After modernity postmodernity came and gave the importance of many form of individual and social

identity. It stresses for a pluralistic and open democracy. Modernization is the social and economic

changes generated in the scientific and technological discoveries. The mass political movement,

urbanization, population masses and forming of national states were in the role of expanding the

capitalist world markets.

Modernism

Modernism was moving along with the art movement and was a set of aesthetic and cultural

styles. Modernism was against classism. Its aim was to find the inner truth behind the appearance of

the surface and gave the importance of experimentation. Some of the modernist was Eliot, Joyce, and

Strindberg etc. Modernism rejected the idealization of subject matter, reflexiveness, and open ended

nature of reality. The features of post modernism also appear in the definitions of modernism as well.

Post modernism

The name of post modernism was given due to the advanced capitalist culture mainly in arts.

It comes into our senses that postmodernism is the culture of postmodernity and modernism is the

culture of modernity. The word postmodernism originated from artist and critics in New York in the

1960and further by the European Theorists in the 1970s.The universal knowledge and

foundationalism was identified through post modernism theory. Lyotard believed that there shouldn’t

be different parts of one reason because there is no reason and only reasons. One of the most

important features linked with postmodernism in the arts are the removal of the boundary between art

and life. Post modernism is the removal of difference in higher and elite class and influences the

surface and not depth. There was a decline in the originality and art producer of a genius view. It

showed that art can be repetitious. In post modernism there was a shift in content and style, the
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images were transformed to reality. There were many continual references of reflexivity, anarchy,

fragmentation, quotation and allegory. Due to the development of post modernism in recent history

lead the need to sexualize everything .Social, political, philosophy and other subjects were treated as a

kind of optional discourses or kind of writings.4

Paganism

Lyotard developed the idea of paganism in “Lessons in Paganism” which was printed in the

lyotard reader. The definition of the term paganism is a way of thinking and strives to do justice too

many differences. Pagans believe in a number of gods rather than believing in one god. The

philosophy of Lyotard relates to pagans opposed the idea of universality. Lyotard was concerned

about the pluralism, difference and multiplicity relates the Lyotard’s basic commitment to ontology. If

reality is constituted by myths and legends then there will be no universal law of judgment which will

do them justice and take out account of every events. Paganism take things in their own hands and

there are problematic differences in the order of things which reduces them to the universals. In his

book Lesson in Paganism he claimed that discourse is narrative. All law and are merely a collection of

stories. Question of justice and judgement was analyzed by him in terms of the language games.

The idea of master discourse also known as metanarrative was rejected by Lyotard which was

taught to be the basis of judgement in all the situations. The examples of some of the master

discourses are Kant, Marx etc. According to Lyotard that the paganism have the suitable response for

the desire of justice. Paganism denies the universal judgement and plural judgement and they are seen

as a godless politics. Multiplicity of justice requires justice of Multiplicity .The attempt to judge

without the existing criteria of ethics, beauty, truth and politics. The universal criteria for judgement

was rejected by paganism by Lyotard says that we should first judge that justice is demanded in the

society. Lyotard used the theories of Kant and Nietzsche to judge without any criteria. According to

Kant the ability to invent criteria and to judge is very mysterious and there is very less information

4
Sarup Madan, Madan Sarup - An Introductory Guide to Post-Structuralism and Postmodernism (1993,
Longman _ Pearson), 1993. Pg. 130-132
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about it. According to the second philosopher the judgment leads to power and authority. For the

requirement of judgement one must meet ever circumstances. 5

Postmodernism Condition

The book of Lyotard Post Modernism Condition was commissioned by the Counsel De

Universities of the government in Quebec. The book gave an overview of the contemporary societal

conditions. After the World War the western societies have radically change their nature. There were

many changes and some of these are as followed media society, postindustrial society, the user society

and bureaucratic society of organized consumption. Lyotard was a post structuralism but later he

adopted post-modernist also. The new type of society is post modernism meaning a new term for post

structuralism in arts. In the book of post modernism condition during the last forty years the leading

technologies, science and culture have become concerned with computers, cybernetics, problems of

communication, problem of translation information and storage banks. The transformation in

technologies had a great impact on knowledge. New inventions and development of machines already

is changing the way in which learning is acquired, many of the things became classified and they were

exploited.

The nature of knowledge cannot survive until there is a change in the transformation of

context. There is a difference in the status of knowledge when the societies enter the age of

modernism. Lyotard claimed that anything in the constituted body of knowledge that cannot translate

the quantity of information will not be followed and new research will be dictated which makes it

possible to transfer it in to computer language. The old principle of post modernism that when

acquiring knowledge is not separable from the training of minds, or even of individuals are no longer

in use. Now a day’s computer knowledge has become one of the principle force of production over

the last few years. There was a drastic effect on the people who earned income by hand labor in the

highly developed countries as they were replaced by modern machinery and technology. There was a

great decrease in the agricultural and factory workers after the industrial revolution and an increase in

the white collar workers and professional technical.

5
“Lyotard, Jean-François | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,” accessed February 23, 2021,
https://iep.utm.edu/lyotard/#SH4a.
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Knowledge will be an important core element in the world wide competition for power and it

is one day possible that states and nation will one day fight for the control of knowledge, , just as

they battle for control over states in the past. In the postmodernism age through science and

machinery the military power of a nation or state and the difference between poor and rich countries

will grow even further. In the digital age the question of government in the question of knowledge

now.

In the book it is suggested that the functions of reproduction and regulation are being and will

be removed from administrators and machines will take over. As a result a question arises that how

can we believe if a machine has an information and it will make the right decision with the knowledge

inside it. For him knowledge is a question of efficiency that goes beyond the simple determination and

use of principle of truth, of beauty, of happiness etc. Lyotard was greatly influenced by the

Wittgenstein’s notion of language games that make these observations. The different categories can

be defined in terms of the application to which they can put and the properties. The rules of language

do not follow their own rule or institution but are merely object of a contract and there will be no

game if there are no rules. Every statement is thought of a rule of a game. There are different effects

and different form of messages depending on whether they are evaluative, prescriptions etc. Lyotard

believed that all form of legitimation tell narratives and according to him if a person is presenting g

truth, he should have a legitimation in the form of narrative. If the narrative would be lengthier, more

comprehensible, and more complicated the more powerful the legitimation will be.

Lyotard believes that language games cannot be judged by the same standards and he

distinguishes false distinction from the prescriptive game and from the technical game. He sees

language games as essentially useful in conflicting relationship between a people who cheats. We act

according to what we have developed in our minds. For him if we talk about an argument it is not just

about speaking but fighting. Lyotard sees the role of researvh the production of ideas 6

6
Madan, Madan Sarup - An Introductory Guide to Post-Structuralism and Postmodernism (1993, Longman _
Pearson).pg.133-135
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Narrative Knowledge and Scientific Knowledge

Narrative knowledge is the kind of knowledge that existed in conflict and competition with

other kind of knowledge. Narratives are the stories, myths legends etc. Narrative put legitimacy upon

social institutions and represent positive and negative models of combined institutions into established

one. It also determine how it is applied in social institutions. The definition of narrative can be what

has the right to be said and done in the culture in question. In the narrative form statement about

justice, beauty, truth are merged together.

In the science language game the sender provide proof of what she says and she has the

permission to refuse any opposing or contradictory statements which concerns the same phrase.

Scientific rules are basically verification in the nineteenth century and in twenty century it is called

falsification. It allows an agreement which is brought to the debate and the addressee. It is not obvious

for every agreement to be a statement of truth. Scientist needs someone to address it to, a partner who

verifies the statement and become the sender. Creation of equals is necessary. Instructor is needed for

the reproduction to take place. The first presumption is that the sender does not know what the student

knows so this is why the students should learn something. The student can learn what the teacher

knows and become as good as the teacher is the second presumption. As the students are learning the

skills experts can have trust in them to learn the skills as they are trying their best. In the future the

student can pursue as a teacher. Students are then introduced to produce scientific knowledge. In

scientific knowledge any statement can be challenged. Any new statement that refuses the old

statement can also be valid and accepted if it proves the previous statement wrong. The scientific

knowledge requires only one language game and denotation, this the difference between scientific

knowledge and narrative knowledge. They both are a set of statements. Moves are the statements

made by the players with the generally applied rules. It is not possible to judge the existence or

validity of narrative knowledge on the basis of scientific knowledge. The criteria of both of them are

different. Lyotard argues that narratives are certified without having any proofs and arguments.

According to scientists narratives belong to different mentality, weak state, backward and composed
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of opinions. Lyotard argued that scientific knowledge cannot know that the knowledge is true without

adopting to the narrative knowledge which from its point of view is not knowledge.

According to Lyotard there are two myths which acts as a justification scientific research and

the other is hypothetical unity of all knowledge. Both of them are considered national myths. In the

French revolution the first political militant activist is the tradition. The German Hegelian tradition is

the second which was organized around the concept of totality. Lyotard considered these two myths

as narrative of legitimation of knowledge. In the first of the version the subject is humanity as the hero

of liberty.7

Mercantilization of Knowledge

According to Lyotard science is a game for the wealthiest. Thus equation between wealth,

truth and efficiency is formed. Truth is no longer required in science and only performativity is

required. Scientists do not find truth but more power. The ability of proof is increased by

performativity so it increases the ability to be right. In the context of grand narrative of legitimation

there is some replacement of teachers by machine which seems insufficient and unbearable. Lyotard

believed that the narratives are no longer required to acquire knowledge. Education must provide

reproduction of skills and knowledge so training should be given to increase the ability of students. It

is important for the students to make the relevant data for solving a problem and to organize the data

into an effective strategy. Data banks are the encyclopedia in the future and are the nature for

postmodern women and man. Imagination is called the capacity to say what is separate. We can make

a new move or a new argument and make new rule in a game through imagination.According to

Lyotard many inventions and arguments of scientist were ignored because the accepted positions were

not stabilized not only in the university but in the discipline. If the invention is very striking it will be

denied because the rules of the game changes upon which the agreement is based. Jean Francis said

that this behavior is terrorist. The meaning of terrorist according to Lyotard is the efficiency gained by

defeating, or threatening to defeat the player from their language game. The one who is weak in the

7
Madan.pg.135-137
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game agrees to the player or is silenced because the ability for participation of other player is

threatened.8

Modernism and Postmodernism

After the 2nd World War a new society was emerged. Many names were given to the society

some of them are post-modernist society, consumer society, postindustrial society etc. According to

the pot structuralist the new society was post Marxist. They said Marxist theory was outdated and it

cannot apply to the new social developments. The philosophers of the period of Enlightenment

formed the project of modernity. They made many efforts on universal truth and laws, art and science.

The enlightenment project was later not accepted by the new French philosopher and their

contemporary and the American counter parts. Post structuralist also rejected the enlightenment. Their

work was not included in the manifestation of post modernism. The concept of postmodernism in not

fully understood and is unknown. Post modernism seems to emerge in the 1950s and 1960s with a

new economic and social values. Post structuralist like Jean Francois Lyotard and Foucault are post-

modernist. Post struc turalist and post-modernist have many similarities that it is impossible to make a

clear difference between them.

According to Lyotard societies which represent the justice and truth in the scientific and

historical narrative is modernism. Post-modernist do not agree with metanarratives. They have a

suspicion of Karl Marx, Hegel and universal truth. Post modernism condition is the freedom of

worker, the collection of wealth, the society with no classes have lost integrity. The grand recits

appeals to one or another for its legitimacy is the definition of discourse. Master narratives are the

grand recits. The collective struggle of freedom and necessity is the version among many of modern

narrative of mastery. Lyotard criticizes Marxism because according to it a homogenous society is

created which can only be brought through the use of force. Lyotard believed that the fragmented and

individualistic society is now present. He dreamed of having a premodern traditional society.

Traditional society are the narrative that say myth, magic, folk and other has an explanation. He

believes that there is a conflict between scientific knowledge and narrative knowledge. Narrative has

8
Madan.pg .138-139
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disappeared and there is nothing that could replace it. According to Lyotard narrative knowledge

should be flexible in which knowledge should be acquired and understood through thought and

morals are connected. Individualism was developed with capitalism and he wanted to maintain it. He

argued that art, morality and science have been separated and become independent. In the

fragmentation of language games there is a characteristic of our times. No metalanguage is seen and

no one can tell what is going on in the whole society. There is no particular system of dominate. Some

of the theorists agree that society will work better in micro events. A society under the control of

market forces is better than a consciously planned society. According to Lyotard and many other post

structuralist is small stories are good and big stories are bad. Lyotard adopted a small and grand

criteria which is not based on truth and false distinction. The Narratives become philosophies of

history and are considered bad. Political parties are associated with grand narrative while localized

creativity are associated with narrative. The ideas are very similar to Foucault who support the idea of

local struggles and is against the grand narrative.9

Totality and Fragmentation

Nowadays it is normal that there is no single theatrical discourse that is going to offer an

explanation for all types of social relations and not even political practice. Post-modernist and other

philosophers and theorists are always making this point against Marxism that it has unified ambitions

and were against its power to provide explanation for all aspects of social experience. Totality was

rejected and Lyotard and other post modernists stressed the need for fragmentation of its society, of

language games and of the subject of human. One of the fascinating thing was Organic unity as

rejected and fragmentary was adopted. This belief was held by the historic avant-garde movements

and the philosophers of Avant garde movement also needed the dissolution of unity. The consistency

and autonomy of the work was questioned and they were destroyed.

Adorno believed that instead of contradicting society and it promotes organic works and the

illusion of the whole world. Art as an institution determines the measure of political effects the Avant

garde can have on the society. Brecht never had the intention that the Avant garde institution artists

could destroy art as an institution. He did not want the theatre to be destroyed but he wanted to change

9
Madan.pg.144-146
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it radically. Adorno promoted the non-organic work and he did not like the work of realism and

despised it, Lucas promoted organic work also known as realism and admired its aesthetics. 10

The Differend

Lyotard completed Libidinal Economy and after it he made 9 years of life to create his

masterpiece The Differnd in 1983.The book contained 264 number of paragraphs which were built on

and the arguments he had been making in the last few years .Lyotard did not use Language games and

it was a major turn. Lyotard made it clear that subjects are there if they move and are produced by

moves which have different language games. The phrases will include different gestures, beyond the

bounds of languages and libidinal energetics. According to Lyotard’s understanding anything can be a

phrase. Every phrase has a system of its own government. He claimed that inside the genres we can

make linkages in hope of solving the problem. These links are taught to be successful when the goals

of dialogue is met. The links within the government are not without a conflict. In the court of laws,

within the government of parliamentary democracy and inside the criticism of art there is a form of

litigation where the rules are taken from the genre and applied to an argument. For example the use of

court from Lyotard terms rule can be used in term of evidence. A differend is a battle between two

parties and can’t be resolved on the basis of lack of rule of judgement on both the arguments. If a

single rule of judgement is applied to make both of them in order and make their differend settled.

Lyotard argued that the Nazis that the Nazis were successful in destroying the historical events. The

Nazis killed their victims and burned the bodies and also the important documents and buildings that

were as an evidence of their crime.11

Justice could not be maintained in spite the differend. There is a need for the invention of new

phrases and new gestures will have to be found. Lyotard did not model the phrases of different

regimens as a market place idea because if one phrase regimen exists than the other regimen mean

forcedly silencing another. It gives us the ability to pick the unjust. If we introduced a localized

10
Madan.pg.147-150
11
“Jean François Lyotard (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).”
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narrative as a metanarrative that would mute and render them. The post modernism condition denies

the reality but this happens only if the reality is defined by the hegemonic discourse.

Politics

Lyotard early political work were to Marxism and revolutionary socialism. Lyotard’s view on

politic is quite different from that found in contemporary and traditional politics and political theory.

He rejected the politics that was based on single theory which accurately capture the truth of social

events. He wanted to do justice in multiple social realities. Lyotard is concerned with the free increase

of diverse elements in society. According to Lyotard politics there is a strong association which

concerns him that events do not do justice by any one representational and theoretical system. The

events of political report do not do justice by the way any political party represents them. He

acknowledged the deployment of revolutionary desires. The libidinal economy is a reading which

contains Marx’s work in art. According to Lyotard the postmodern politics involves thinking the

political after the decline of metanarrative such as liberalism and Marxism. Lyotard rejected all the

dominant political ideologies which were called master narratives which did not include and violence

to the diverse nature of social reality and minorities. This rejection was proved in the philosophy of

paganism that proceeded postmodernism. The notion of piety linked with the pagan is not a rejection

of pious political ideologies.

The politics of Lyotard deals with the concerns for justice and they seemed to have an idea of

The Differend. The party who cannot phrase their hurt is wrong in the case of differend. Justice

demands a witness and can remember the fact that it is a differend. It should present the fact that a

wrong is done and can not present itself. The task of presenting the unpresentable is a difficult and

challenging task which was achieved in the arena of art.

Arts and Aesthetics

Lyotard rote many books on art and philosophical aesthetics. The aesthetic theory of Lyotard

focused on the Avant garde movement. It tells about the philosophical thought of the postmodernism

and the libidinal. He wrote a number of books on many artist some of them include Daniel Buren,

Albert Ayme and Jacques Monory. He organized an art exhibition in 198 at the Centre George
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Pompidou. The exhibition had a collection of works which explored the connection between space,

time and art. According to Lyotard Art has a benefit and it has a limits to representation. Art was

privileged for its great excellence and beauty in Lyotard’s postmodern period. He had a particular

interest in the Avant garde. The main features of Avant garde was the alteration of expectations

conventions and acceptance. Visual arts is connected with figural and way of seeing in discourse and

poetry upsets the way of meaning. The libidinal philosophy with art is the level of how much power is

in the affection. Colors, shapes and the significance it forms. The process of painting exemplifies the

libidinal energy in an active way according to Lyotard philosophical thought. He developed an

aesthetic theory of postmodern art in Philosophy of postmodernism. Lyotard’s postmodern art differ

from the stylistic trend called which is called postmodern in the art world. The post modernism in art

relates to the modernism in the arts. Postmodernism is experimentation that drives it into ever-

changing forms. Something has to be postmodern so that it could become modern according to

Lyotard.

Late Works

Lyotard works were on the Politician and a French writer Andre Malraux. It is an

autobiography. The philosophical commitments reserved him from the assumption in the traditional

genre of biography. Subject is taught to be unified and text represents the truth about the subject.

According to Lyotard Malraux a set of heterogeneous elements containing political events, texts,

personal relationships etc. Lyotard as an author assumed that creation of fictional character is uniform

and whole. Lyotard was inspired by Malraux because of the feature they share. Through art they share

a problematic relations and finds an attempted solutions to the problems. Lyotard and Malraux are

concerned with the decline belief of belief in the objective values.

At the time of Lyotard’s death Constantine of Augustine as written which was incomplete. It

has been published in partial form and the working notes were also included. It is very similar to

Lyotard’s oeuvre. The themes of Lyotard’s work in Augustine’s Confessions were also found in the

early works. The main theme of Augustine’s work was study in the Phenom ology of time which is

referred to the early paper. The reading was developed by Jean Paul Sartre, Martin and Edmund
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Husserl. The study show the problems of now and the present and the relation with the past and

future. The problem of time is present repeatedly in Lyotard’s work.12

Conclusion

The goal of this research was to provide a better understanding of the postmodernism

condition, accurate understanding of his critique. He was a famous postmodernist and wrote many

books on it .His note on language games allowed us to have an idea of what is reality.

12
“Lyotard, Jean-François | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.”