Why Philosophize?

Why Philosophize? is a series of lectures given by
Jean-François Lyotard to students at the Sorbonne embarking on
their university studies. The circumstances obliged him to be both
clear and concise: at the same time, his lectures offer a profound
and far-reaching meditation on how essential it is to philosophize
in a world where philosophy often seems irrelevant, outdated, or
inconclusive.
Lyotard begins by drawing on Plato, Proust and Lacan to show that
philosophy is a never-ending desire - for wisdom, for the
'other'. In the second lecture he draws on Heraclitus
and Hegel to explore the close relation between philosophy and
history: the same restlessness, the same longing for a precarious
unity, drives both. In his third lecture, Lyotard examines how
philosophy is a form of utterance, both communicative and indirect.
Finally, he turns to Marx, exploring the extent to which philosophy
can be a transformative action within the world.
These wonderfully accessible lectures by one of the most
influential philosophers of the last 50 years will attract a wide
readership, since, as Lyotard says, 'How can one not
philosophize?' They are also an excellent introduction to
Lyotard's mature thought, with its emphasis on the need for
philosophy to bear witness, however obliquely, to a recalcitrant
reality.

Jean-François Lyotard is formerly Professor Emeritus of
Philosophy, University of Paris VIII and Professor, University of
California at Irvine.