The demise of grand narratives!
General human emancipation could not be attained by way of human rights or a one class society.
Modernism in the arts sought to make everything new/to transform the world. However, after the events of Auschwitz and the Soviet gulags we realized that modern dreams of transforming humanity only is and perhaps only can be attained through violence and thus success is futile.
An affinity for the “new” and the universal creates hostility towards the “other” and the “old.” This creates a social disconnect.
Lyotard then, through postmodernism (a turning away from the utopian ideal) appreciates and encourages diversity, difference, and plurality within the human experience. There is no longer (in theory) a superior (I.E. more progressive and modern outlook) and thus one should not aspire to a mono-outlook. Progress does not equal better.
History is not a linear universal and should not be made to be.
This is not to say that progress is a bad thing, rather that we must strive to not see it as a universal good.
Issues with this: Passivity of Lyotards position/Inability to judge differences creates an “everything is ok” absence of standards. How then do we look to and dream of a future that is better than the status quo?
Postmodernism: Trying to shake modernism as modernism in an attempt to shake the past only succeeded in repeating it, thus, postmodernism seeks to work through the past in order to overcome it.
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