Page 135 - Cultural Studies Dictionary

DICTIONARY OF CULTURAL STUDIES

not possess clear and fixed meanings. For example, in his discussion of the
opposition between nature and culture Derrida points out that nature is already a
concept in language (that is, culture) and not a pure state of being beyond signs.
112 Likewise, while Christianity claims to be based on the transcendental truth of the
word of God, that word is available only through the unstable signs of writing, that
is, through the Bible. Ultimately, Derrida argues, literal meaning is always already
underpinned by metaphor – its apparent opposite.

Links Deconstruction, meaning, poststructuralism, representation, truth, writing

Lyotard,Jean-François (1924–1998) The French-born thinker Jean-François Lyotard
was Professor of Philosophy at the Universities of Paris – vii and California, Irvine.
His early thinking was within the bounds of Marxism but he later broke away from
it and gained international recognition for his theorizing of the postmodern
condition. For Lyotard, the postmodern condition is not a historical epoch or a set
of institutional parameters but rather the condition of knowledge of post-industrial
societies. While modern knowledge rests on its appeal to grand narratives, the
postmodern condition involves an ‘incredulity toward metanarratives’ and
embraces local, plural and heterogeneous knowledges that are specific to language-
games. Lyotard also addresses the implications of this for notions of justice through
the concept of a ‘differend’, that is, a conflict between parties where there is no
common ground of arbitration.
• Associated concepts Epistemology, foundationalism (anti-), grand narrative,
irony, language-game, post-industrial society.
• Tradition(s) Marxism, postmodernism.
• Reading Lyotard, J-F. (1984) The Postmodern Condition. Minneapolis, MN:
University of Minnesota Press.