This contribution examines the ethical dimension in the thinking of Jean-François Lyotard. It is shown that receptivity (passibilité) is crucial to its understanding. On these grounds, ethical responsibility can be conceived as fundamentally different from the standard conceptions of autonomy: ethical obligation has its sources in affection and is founded by a capacity of responsivity. This position is further developed by drawing on Lyotard’s thoughts on language in Le Différend: the idea of a “sentence event” can be conceptualized within the framework of an ethics of dialogue, which leaves room for asymmetry, alterity, and transformation. The philosophy of the irreconcilable conflict (différend) turns out to be a form of ethics in this sense.
Lyotard; Ethics; Moral Philosophy; Postmodernism; Conflict