Lyotard: after and with Marx,within and against capital

This article examines Lyotard's thought by means of a review of his conceptions of Marx and capital. Lyotard is taken to hold ambiguous views on both Marx and capital throughout his career. These ambiguities reflect his development of a post-Marxist standpoint. The ambiguous character of Lyotard's reading of Marx and capital is heightened by the fact that the ways in which they are formulated vary in the course of his career. In criticizing Marx, Lyotard tends to assume an absolutist form of Marxism that abstracts from the variety of ways in which Marx can and has been interpreted. Likewise, Lyotard tends to misrecognize how he retains aspects of Marx's critique of capital, and hence does not explore the critical connections between his own standpoint and that of Marx.