The Differend

Jean-Francois Lytotard’s concept of ‘the differend’ enables one to gain a purchase on the plethora of clashing, divergent discourses or opinions characterising the current historical era, that of the coronavirus ‘pandemic’ (Covid-19), in so far as this concept enables one to discern those areas of discourse where no possibility of agreement could possibly be reached. It contrasts Lyotard’s notion of the differend with Habermas’s of ‘consensus’, and advances the argument that Lyotard’s perspective not merely seems to be applicable to the global situation, today, but that it appears to be vindicated by the incommensurability of opinions, views and beliefs characterising the informational and communicational exchange in contemporary media on various aspects of the ‘pandemic’. The latter includes the question of the origin of the ‘novel coronavirus’ (natural, zoonotic transfer to humans, or techno-scientifically produced in a laboratory); the issue of so-called PCR-tests (reliable or not); whether to ‘lockdown’ or not (Sweden versus the rest of the world); and perhaps the most vexing question of them all, namely, whether to receive a Covid-19 vaccine or not (one of several available ones), or to depend on alternative available treatments such as Ivermectin, when necessary. It is demonstrated that the available reports, opinions and pronouncements on these issues diverge irreconcilably, and therefore constitute an exemplary instance of the differend. Finally, the question is raised, what it would take to resolve the differend, or alternatively, make it disappear.

Jean-François Lyotard (1924–1998) was an early theorist of postmodernity though the waning discourse of cultural ‘postmodernism’ has meant that many of his later writings have received less attention from scholars. Although music was rarely a central concern for Lyotard, it does recur with regularity as a topic throughout his writings. This essay considers the place of Lyotard's conception of affect in his discussions of listening and of contemporary music. As I suggest, music and affect, for Lyotard, share a number of challenges in that both introduce types of untranslatability and miscommunication—hence, a profound uncertainty and disorientation—among subjects. Nevertheless, these same features join with the role of technology and the feeling of time within postmodernity in characterizing (negatively) the present and pointing (more positively) to the development of new sound possibilities, new feelings, and ultimately, new relationships that are necessary within the ‘spaceless zone’ of the future.

çeviren : Murat Erşen

"983 yılında yazdığı Le Différend başlıklı çalışmasında Lyotard, “siyasal”ı, önceden belirli bir dizi kural ya da yasaya bağlı olarak davası görülerek belli biz sonuca bağlanabilen uyuşmazlık biçimlerinin tersine, evrensel geçerlikte bir kuralın ya da yargının uygulanmasıyla çözülmesi olanaklı olmayan temel ayrılıklar ve anlaşmazlıklar (différends) doğrultusun da tanımlamaktadır. Buna bağlı olarak Lyotard, birbirleriyle çarpışan deyişler, tasarımlar ve yetiler arasındaki bağlantının nasıl kurulacağı sorununu, eleştirel bir düşüncenin olduğu kadar çeşitliliğe ve çokyanlı tartışma üstüne yapılanmış bir siyasetin de zorunlu koşulu saymaktadır. Anlaşmazlıklar karşısında adil ve kabul edilebilir bir konumda durmanın, söylem evreninin bütün bir ayrışıklığı ıle farklı deyiş ve kavrayışların birbirleriyle ölçüştürelemezliğini tanımaktan geçtiğini savunmaktadır. Nitekim Lyotard’ın bu bağlamda dile getirdiği ” her ne zaman davalı kendini savunma araçlarından yoksunsa, o zaman davalı olmaktan çok bir kurban konumuna düşmektedir” sözü, modern dünyanın adaletsizlikler üstüne kurulu düzenine karşı seslendirdiği postmodern meydan okumanın gerekliliğini göstermesi bakımından ayrı bir değer taşımaktadır."  Kaynak: Felsefe Sözlüğü- A.Baki Güçlü; Erkan Uzun; Serkan Uzun; Ü.Hüsrev Yoksal-Bilim ve Sanat Yayınları http://felsefeokuma.blogspot.fr/p/jflyotard.html

Jean-Francois Lyotard’s concept of “the differend” enables one to gain a purchase on the plethora of clashing, divergent discourses or opinions characterising the current historical era, that of the coronavirus “pandemic” (Covid-19), in so far as this concept enables one to discern those areas of discourse where no possibility of agreement could possibly be reached. It contrasts Lyotard’s notion of the differend with Habermas’s of “consensus,” and advances the argument that Lyotard’s perspective not merely seems to be applicable to the global situation, today, but that it appears to be vindicated by the incommensurability of opinions, views and beliefs characterising the informational and communicational exchange in contemporary media on various aspects of the “pandemic.” The latter include the question of the origin of the “novel coronavirus” (natural, zoonotic transfer to humans, or techno-scientifically produced in a laboratory); the issue of so-called PCR-tests (reliable or not)...

This is an essay I have written for Jean-Paul Martinon's course "Curating and Ethics" as part of the M.A. Contemporary Art Theory at Goldsmiths, University of London.
With the question "How can I pay justice to the art I care about?" in mind I attempted to addresses the ethical role of those who engage with art today and to explore the significance of Lyotard’s concept of the differend in addressing and supporting an ethical position with relation to art.

How does one hear a story that isn’t tellable, or advocate on behalf of someone who is illegible? We propose to develop the concept of atopos as an unspeakable, but nonetheless productive site of social energy.

Keywords: atopia, differend, topos, narrative, immigration law

Deliberative democracy is a branch of political theory that takes the ideal of public deliberation between citizens to be the best way to conduct public affairs. This thesis explores the exclusionary implications of conceptions of deliberative democracy that aim towards reaching consensus. As a corrective, I present an alternative conception of democracy that takes difference and antagonism as constitutive of the political. I will use Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of the differend as a critical tool for normative assessment of deliberative processes, and present a conception of communicative democracy, based mainly on the writings of Iris Marion Young, as a credible starting point for politics that aims towards solving differends by greater inclusion of group difference into politics. I take as my method that of critical theory, understood as normative analysis that takes as its starting point existing social processes and aims to construct an account of them that is both descriptive and prescriptive, aiming to reveal hidden normative possibilities inherent in them.

This thesis consists of an introduction and four chapters. The first one explores the concept of the differend, understood as the problem of systemic distortions in political communication making expressing some experiences of injustice impossible. The second chapter presents a standard model of deliberative democracy based on the writings of Joshua Cohen, and then shows how its normative conditions of consensus, unity, reasonable argument and a focus on the common good result in the formation of differends by precluding inclusion of difference. The third chapter then presents an account of communicative democracy as an amendment to the standard model of deliberative democracy. To this end I use and comment on the thought of Iris Marion Young, Chantal Mouffe and Susan Bickford, among others. This account takes antagonism and group difference as constitutive of the political, and aims towards greater political inclusion of groups that are excluded from deliberation by structural relations of privilege and disadvantage. Commenting on discussion around culture in political theory, an account of social groups based on writings of Iris Marion Young is given that refuses to use cultural identity as its basis. Instead, group difference is conceptualized as a structurally constituted and situated phenomenon that must be reflected in politics through the inclusion of differently situated group perspectives into deliberative processes. Structural injustice leads to formation of differends in deliberative processes, and I claim that inclusion of situated perspectives into deliberation through the communicative modes of greeting, rhetoric and narratives are a way towards solving them. I also explore Paul Healy’s suggestion of replacing the deliberative template with the notion of transformative dialogue. In the fourth chapter I briefly discuss Iris Marion Young’s essay ‘Activist Challenges to Deliberative Democracy’ (2001) to explore the limits of deliberation as a method for solving differends.

Jean-Francois Lyotard's concept of "the differend" enables one to gain a purchase on the plethora of clashing, divergent discourses or opinions characterising the current historical era, that of the coronavirus "pandemic" (Covid-19), in so far as this concept enables one to discern those areas of discourse where no possibility of agreement could possibly be reached. It contrasts Lyotard's notion of the differend with Habermas's of "consensus," and advances the argument that Lyotard's perspective not merely seems to be applicable to the global situation, today, but that it appears to be vindicated by the incommensurability of opinions, views and beliefs characterising the informational and communicational exchange in contemporary media on various aspects of the "pandemic." The latter include the question of the origin of the "novel coronavirus" (natural, zoonotic transfer to humans, or technoscientifically produced in a laboratory); the issue of so-called PCR-tests (reliable or not); whether to "lockdown" or not (Sweden versus the rest of the world); and perhaps the most vexing question of them all, namely, whether to receive a Covid-19 vaccine or not (one of several available ones), or to depend on alternative available treatments such as Ivermectin, when necessary. It is demonstrated that the available reports, opinions and pronouncements on these issues diverge irreconcilably, and therefore constitute an exemplary instance of the differend. Finally, the question is raised, what it would take to resolve the differend, or alternatively, make it disappear.

This essay connects Lyotard's idea of the differend and its economy with religious economy and with several illustrations from Plato's Republic of these economies at work. 

Attached is the typescript; for scholarly notation see the article in Phil and Lit.

This is a study of the various forms of contemporary slave-practices, not limited to sexual trafficking. Working from human rights studies, I show how present-day slavery and chattel practices correspond to what J.-F. Lyotard aptly defined as a "differend," which above all consists in the extreme difficulty confronting an injured party or class in bringing its condition to light within the received (juridical or economic) lexicon of the institutions supposed to hear the crime, and thereupon to provide some aid or resolution to the wrong(s) committed.

Jean-François Lyotard (1924–1998) was an early theorist of postmodernity though the waning discourse of cultural ‘postmodernism’ has meant that many of his later writings have received less attention from scholars. Although music was rarely a central concern for Lyotard, it does recur with regularity as a topic throughout his writings. This essay considers the place of Lyotard's conception of affect in his discussions of listening and of contemporary music. As I suggest, music and affect, for Lyotard, share a number of challenges in that both introduce types of untranslatability and miscommunication—hence, a profound uncertainty and disorientation—among subjects. Nevertheless, these same features join with the role of technology and the feeling of time within postmodernity in characterizing (negatively) the present and pointing (more positively) to the development of new sound possibilities, new feelings, and ultimately, new relationships that are necessary within the ‘spaceless zone’ of the future.