The Field: Knowledge in Computerized Science Summary and Analysis

Lyotard coined the term postmodernism. This term draws a relationship between modernism and postmodernism. The Postmodern age is born out of modernism. In this book, Lyotard is concerned with language games predominately, which determine social relations. The question is, what is effective knowledge in society? Lyotard claims that the universities, and science in general, are suffering because of delegitimation. He claims that the stories one tells oneself and each other are in conflict with what exactly exists in reality. What has resulted is a science that is based on dominance and repression rather than being focused on truth. Postmodernism's task is to restore harmony in the system by embracing the anarchy that exists in the new scientific paradigm.

Lyotard refers to the technological age as the age of computers. He refers...