Simple causal accounts of the decline of grand narratives are inadequate

Evidence

Anytime we go searching for causes in this way we are bound to be disappointed. Even if we adopted one or the other of these hypotheses, we would still have to detail the correlation between the tendencies mentioned and the decline of the unifying and legitimating power of the grand narratives of speculation and emancipation. — Jean-François Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition, 293

Categorization

• QUESTION: Lyotard dismisses technology and capitalism as sufficient causes for delegitimation, pointing instead to internal seeds — a methodologically revealing move but one he states too briefly.
• XREF: connects to: Lyotard replaces grand narratives with little narratives and temporary contracts — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 65; The triumph of market liberalism refuted Lyotard’s claim that grand narratives died — Perry Anderson, The Origins of Postmodernity, 76; Conflicting archival accounts destabilize the very boundaries of events and causal claims — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1032 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Real history lacks tidy dramatic arcs and tidy causation. #corroborates (0.80) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 1173
• Conflicting archival accounts destabilize the very boundaries of events and causal claims #complicates (0.75) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1032