Phenomenology (1954) - An examination of the phenomenological movement.
Discourse, Figure (1971) - An analysis of the relationship between language and visual art. It argues that the meaning of art is not reducible linguistically.
Libidinal Economy (1974) - An argument that social structures are driven by libidinal energies, intensities of desire, rather than reason.
Duchamp's Transformers (1977) - An analysis of Marcel Duchamp’s art and its relationship to postmodernism.
The Postmodern Condition (1979) - An analysis of the effects of postmodern society on knowledge. It argues that 'metanarratives' have historically guided our epistemology, but they no longer do.
The Differend (1983) - An analysis of the limits of language, characterized by an impassable ‘differend.’
Just Gaming (1985) - An examination of justice within the context of language games. It argues for a different perspective of justice because of the inaccessibility of absolute truth and consensus.
The Postmodern Explained to Children (1986) - A series of letters to a child explaining postmodernism in simple terms.
Heidegger and the Jews (1988) - An examination of Heidegger's thoughts on Jewish people
Pacific Wall (1990) - A novel set on a University campus on a California beach. It displays Lyotard’s intense libidinal energies as well as a discussion on the artist Edward Kienholz.
The Inhuman (1991) - An analysis of the development of non-human technology and its invasion into human life.
Readings in Infancy (1991) - An examination of the concept of infantia, the pre-linguistic infant-like element of thought, in the context of several modernist writers and thinkers.
Lessons on the Analytic of the Sublime (1991) - An analysis of Kant’s concept of the sublime and its relationship with Lyotard’s differend.
Karel Appel, a Gesture of Colour (1992) - A commentary on the Dutch painter Karel Appel and his use of color.
Toward the Postmodern (1993) - A series of essays that critique modernism and traces the development of postmodernism.
Signed, Malraux (1996) -A biography of the novelist and politician André Malraux.
Postmodern Fables (1997) - A series of fables that examine postmodern life and how it works in the absence 'metanarratives' or a stable source of truth.
The Poverty of Philosophy (2000 / Posthumous) - An examination of the limits of modernist philosophy and a critique of absolute truth and consensus.
The Confession of Augustine (2000 / Posthumous) - A phenomenological account of St. Augustine’s Confessions and what it meant for the history of philosophy.
Soundproof Room (2002 / Posthumous) - A continuation of Signed, Malraux that furthers Lyotard’s commentary on the artist.
