Strategies of Resistance

On Ambivalent Words in Jean-François Lyotard

Abstract

This essay examines Jean-François Lyotard’s ambivalent use of the “sublime,” focusing on the intricate tension and complicity between capitalism and avant-garde art. Capitalism, while dehumanising and dematerialising individuals, generates avant-garde art that critiques these very processes. Lyotard’s use of terms such as “terror,” “inhuman,” and “immaterial” reveals their dual role: they function both as instruments of the capitalist system and as tools of resistance. By tracing Lyotard’s evolving thought from the 1970s to the 1980s, this essay explores how he argues that effective critique of capitalism must come from within its structures, a strategy that may be described as “mimetic adaptation.” Additionally, the essay highlights how Lyotard’s insights continue to be crucial for understanding the dynamics of power, resistance, and the potential for subversion in contemporary capitalist society, especially through the lens of aesthetic theory.