Death of Grand Narratives

Lyotard defined postmodernism as "incredulity toward metanarratives" — fancy words for a simple idea: be suspicious of any single story that claims to explain everything.

History as unstoppable progress? That narrative ignores colonialism and environmental destruction. Pure free-market capitalism as the path to universal prosperity? That story leaves out the billions still in poverty. Postmodernism does not say all stories are lies — it says no single story captures the whole truth.