Art and politics in the thought of Jean-François Lyotard

Abstract

In a first moment, we aim to look into the source of aesthetics discussions of Lyotard’s philosophy. These sources are political. It is only from the understanding of Lyotard’s political discomfort in relation to Marxist theory of his time that we can understand his resource to aesthetics and why he presents us new ways of political organization This investigation will mainly take place from the connection that Lyotard does between art and politics, especially the one he formulates in the essay Notes on the critical function of the work of art, published in 1970 and collected in Driftworks. This bond is possible just after a return to the Freudian theory. We will search into the importance of this theory in the construction of two kernel concepts in his thought: the notions of figure and figural space. Hence, what is at stake is the relation between politics, aesthetic and psychoanalysis.