... Lyotard suggests that while discourse operates as a system of representation which defines meanings according to their relation to other concepts in that system, figure is the realm of the singular, of that which refuses to, or simply cannot, be captured and systematized by the concept.

Nicholas Gane
About This Quote

"Figure" is a term used by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in their book, A Thousand Plateaus , to describe the unique singular thing. In this quotation, Lyotard suggests that while discourse operates as a system of representation which defines meanings according to their relation to other concepts in that system, figure is the realm of the singular, of that which refuses to, or simply cannot, be captured and systematized by the concept.

Source: Max Weber And Postmodern Theory: Rationalization Versus Reenchantment

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