Legitimation by ‘the people’ requires destroying traditional minority knowledges

Evidence

It is clear that what is meant here by “the people” is entirely different from what is implied by traditional narrative knowledge, which, as we have seen, requires to instituting deliberation, no cumulative progression, no pretension to universality; these are the operators of scientific knowledge. It is therefore not at all surprising that the representatives of the new process of legitimation by “the people” should be at the same time actively involved in destroying the traditional knowledge of peoples, perceived from that point forward as minorities or potential separatist movements destined only to spread obscurantism. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 252

Categorization

• XREF: The abstraction-vs-destruction tension here is exactly the modernity-as-uniformity point Jameson inherits; also echoes Things Fall Apart’s collision of traditions with colonial modernity. — connects to: “The people” is itself a contested construct, not a fixed subject; Knowledge of colonized peoples produces power to control them; Orientalist authority requires dispossessing prior knowledge while claiming perfect authenticity (+1 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that modern legitimation by ‘the people’ structurally requires erasing traditional knowledges is dense and counterintuitive — sits at the heart of the Lyotard-Jameson problem.

Broader Connections

• Orientalist authority requires dispossessing prior knowledge while claiming perfect authenticity #corroborates (0.85)
• “The people” is itself a contested construct, not a fixed subject #expands (0.80)
• Knowledge of colonized peoples produces power to control them #expands (0.80)
• Communitarian moral rhetoric masks a project of disciplining individuals #complicates (0.75)