Knowledge, truth, post-truth and the postmodern worldview : assessing Lyotard’s postmodern stance as a vehicle to explore truth and knowledge in contemporary times

Abstract

Contemporary times are prosperous with confusion and social unrest, having multiple causes that include the digital age, time-space compression and liquid society. In parallel, one can observe the phenomenon of post-truth, which in an umbrella interpretation both encourages and allows for the spread of narratives, without regard for their truthfulness. At some levels, these narratives contradict the “mainstream”, and as such there exists a parallel between this conflict and postmodernism as “incredulity towards metanarratives”, as defined by Jean-François Lyotard. I take it upon me in this paper to summarize, expose and critique the postmodern solution as described and argued for by Lyotard, in order to decide if the parallel is warranted. This is done by accepting the same tools Lyotard uses in his argumentation, namely Wittgensteinian language games. While analysing the postmodern position, I am also investigating and concluding on an appropriate stance to address post-truth.