Lyotard's postmodern ethics and information technology

There is now a consensus that computer ethics and, more generally, information ethics are independent fields of study, not just applications of traditional ethical theories to issues raised by information and communication technologies. However, this consensus has not translated into a consensus concerning the ethical principles that should apply in these fields. If there is any general agreement, it seems to be that postmodernism is an obstacle to the formulation of such principles. The aim of this paper is to present at least one version of postmodern ethics that does not fit the image of postmodernism constructed by writers in the fields of computer and information ethics. The author will show that the popular image of postmodernism contains many serious misunderstandings. He will show in particular that Jean-Francois Lyotard's rejection of the grand narratives of the Enlightenment does not amount to a refusal to answer the questions of how to live.