Why do we philosophize?

Author's name: Jean-François Lyotard

One of the world's most influential economists presents us with two decades of this book, a series of lectures Lyotard gave to his first-year students at the Sorbonne. He strived to be both clear and concise, offering a profound reflection on the importance of philosophizing in a world where philosophy is considered isolated from reality, outdated, or even unconvincing. In the first lecture, Lyotard draws on Plato, Proust, and Lacan to demonstrate that philosophy is an endless desire for wisdom and the "other." In the second, he discusses Heraclitus and Hegel to explain the profound connection between philosophy and history; both are driven by the same anxiety and the same aspiration for unstable unity. In the third, Lyotard explains how philosophy is a form of expression that is both communicative and indirect. In the final lecture, he talks about Marx, explaining philosophy's ability to be an act of change in the world. These enjoyable lectures will provide us with an excellent introduction to Lyotard's later ideas, which emphasize the need for philosophy to bear witness, even if subjectively or biasedly, to a reality we cannot control. Lyotard suffered from his name being associated with an idea that had "gone out of fashion": postmodernism. These lectures provide the greatest evidence that Lyotard is one of the most important voices heard in the world of philosophy... for its originality, novelty, enjoyment, and ease all at once. A new social perspective, one that suits our situation in the twenty-first century. What does society owe us? And what do we owe it in return?