The Differend

Phrases in Dispute

1989
•
Author:

Jean-François Lyotard
Translated by Georges Van den Abbeele

“This work is of vital importance in a period when revisionism of all stripes attempts to rewrite, and often simply deny, the occurrence of historical and cultural events, i.e. in attempting to reconstruct ‘reality’ in the convenient names of ‘truth’ and ‘common sense.’” French Review

“This work is of vital importance in a period when revisionism of all stripes attempts to rewrite, and often simply deny, the occurrence of historical and cultural events, i.e. in attempting to reconstruct ‘reality’ in the convenient names of ‘truth’ and ‘common sense.’” French Review

This work is of vital importance in a period when revisionism of all stripes attempts to rewrite, and often simply deny, the occurrence of historical and cultural events, i.e. in attempting to reconstruct ‘reality’ in the convenient names of ‘truth’ and ‘common sense.’

—

French Review

“This work is of vital importance in a period when revisionism of all stripes attempts to rewrite, and often simply deny, the occurrence of historical and cultural events, i.e. in attempting to reconstruct ‘reality’ in the convenient names of ‘truth’ and ‘common sense.’” French Review

Jean-Francois Lyotard (1925-1998) was one of the principal French philosophers and intellectuals of the twentieth century. His works include Signed, Malraux; Postmodern Fables; The Postmodern Condition; Heidegger and “the jews”; and The Postmodern Explained, all published by the University of Minnesota Press.

This work is of vital importance in a period when revisionism of all stripes attempts to rewrite, and often simply deny, the occurrence of historical and cultural events, i.e. in attempting to reconstruct ‘reality’ in the convenient names of ‘truth’ and ‘common sense.’

—

French Review

Indeed, The Differend, arguable Lyotard’s most important statement to date, can be understood as a renewal of the sophistic (and specifically Gorgianic) view of invention.

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Poetics Today