Basic Knowledge
This book review focuses on the reading by Jean-François Lyotard titled ThePostmodern Condition: AReport onKnowledge, which is an exciting read that attempts to define knowledge and how it evolves in postindustrial society. The book advances theoretical knowledge of the philosophy and rhetoric of communication. The first way it advances my basic knowledge is that it made it easier to understand that the individuals who can review big data and find meaning in the information will be the winners. In other words, information control is paramount, and anyone who has control can make transformative changes.
The book also introduces the concept of language games, which suggests that communication is like a competitive event. Lyotard reveals that “scientific research, especially in its search for new methods of argumentation, emphasizes the invention of new ‘moves’ and even new rules for language games” (53). This means that communication happens like a game or a battlefield and relies on attributes of our social interactions, defined here as language games. These games require individuals to constantly change their roles and positions, depending on the type of discourse they are engaging in.
The third way is that the book emphasizes that new games, rules, and actions are all part of the progress in attaining scientific knowledge. For instance, technology is a technical apparatus that improves the human senses.
Metaphor and Argument
The research question guiding the book, as posed by Lyotard, is: “The status of knowledge is altered as societies enter what is known as the postindustrial age and cultures enter what is known as the postmodern age” (3). The dominant metaphorical pattern is that the status of knowledge is altered. Lyotard suggests that in a postmodern world, knowledge has undergone tremendous change, and power arises from knowing to improve the efficiency of the world, achieved by obtaining, analyzing, and creating vast amounts of data and information.
Lyotard suggests that it is easy to imagine learning circulating just as money does, rather than for its political or educational value (Lyotard 6). Education does not end when a person completes university. Instead, it is a constant process in which people in society must adapt and accommodate new changes within an evolving system.
Professors play a critical role, acting as repositories of established knowledge that they share with students. They are comparable to interdisciplinary teams developing new games or moves (Lyotard 53). The professor’s role will become less critical as computer-based learning methods are widely adopted and utilized by an increasing number of students. These virtual systems make it easier for students to learn and access information from a vast pool of data without being in a classroom.
Relevance
The book is relevant to the communication classroom and marketplace, as it focuses on communication technologies and their importance in a postindustrial society that relies on new media to share knowledge. The author explains that communication entails language games whereby individuals change their roles depending on the discussion or topic (Lyotard 9).
The author explains the concept of communication and its role as a social bond. Communication involves messages that affect the language game, enriching and enhancing the system by supporting novelty and innovation. The book helps me understand scientific knowledge, which I will utilize in the future when seeking evidence to support specific statements or when generating valid information to refute opposing arguments.
Scientific knowledge relies on an understanding of reality. It is independent of developing a social bond with participants. Instead, scientific knowledge is one-sided, and the sender must be competent to conduct the study. Moreover, the sender needs to rely on the language game to win arguments (Lyotard 9). In a postmodern society, knowledge can either be scientific or narrative. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and one is not better.
Work Cited
Lyotard, Jean-François. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Vol. 10, The University of Minnesota Press, 1984.