Žižek and Freedom: Utopia and the Parallax View

Springer Verlag (2023)
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Abstract

This book is an exploration of Žižek's theory of freedom. By examining key passages in Žižek's work the aim is to provide a functional, serviceable philosophy of power and ideology and show how this philosophy of power relates to freedom. Although some, like Noam Chomsky, have criticized Žižek's work as having no guiding principles, it is suggested that this misses the fact that Žižek's philosophy utilizes a dialectical methodology that often appears contradictory. Though a highly astute reader with a background in the philosophical texts he frequently cites (the German Idealists, Freud, and modern philosophers), it becomes clear that there is a uniquely Zizekian philosophy that mobilizes a radical hermeneutics of freedom.

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Chapters

What Is the Parallax View?

Firstly, the main target is narcissistic relativism, the kind where “freedom” is described as an equality of opinions and tastes. If readers understand anything from Žižek’s theorizing it is the thesis that the enjoyment of opinions and tastes places the subject entirely within ideological matrices.... see more

What Is Ideology?

For Zizek, ideology is not analyzed as an abstract system of principles but as a material force which structures our actual life. An analysis that necessitates the methods of psychoanalysis to unearth the libidinal investments that regulate our daily lives.

What Does It Mean to Be Free?: Hermeneutics of Freedom

Žižek has held the position, again and again, that we are not spontaneously free, and this is one of the reasons why he has claimed his philosophy is a rehabilitation of the “master signifier” discourse, to provoke an awakening. In some regards he is akin to Socrates, who self-applied his nickname a... see more

What About Life?

There is an emphasis on the politics of ‘life’ through the lens of ‘marginalization’ and the giving and taking away of life with the solution being reducible to Edward Said’s understanding of the marginalized making a ‘voyage in’ from the periphery to reclaim the center. While clearly these are usef... see more

Cynicism/Ressentiment as the Function of Ideology

There is scant serious work examining the influences of Nietzsche upon Žižek. Most points of contact are concealed in missed opportunities.. In a common thread that runs throughout most of Žižek’s work there is a way that he casts cynicism and irony as always implying a gap, a beyond in which the ir... see more

Introduction

Slavoj Žižek’s influence upon the English-speaking world began with the publication of his book The Sublime Object of Ideology in 1989. In this book, Žižek sets forth a serious engagement with the work of psychoanalysis and Hegelian Marxism as methodologies utilized to critique capitalist ideology. ... see more

Lacan, Discourses and Social Bonds II: Aggressivity and Narcissistic Rage

Žižek’s work moves interesting, under-theorized directions that can at times appropriate from Lacan’s work on narcissism, aggressivity, and affect (particularly ‘rage’). Utilizing Lacan’s Graphs of Desire to clarify Žižek’s Lacanian methods in order to better distill the original philosophy of Žižek... see more

Lacan, Discourses and Social Bonds I: Graphs of Desire

Žižek’s vital concept is “ideology.” He is viewed as a theorist of ideology and its many matrices. I emphasize the Lacanian thesis that discourses are not simply words, but form the basis of social bonds. I rely on Lacan’s Graphs of Desire in the fifth and sixth chapters, expanding upon Žižek’s use ... see more

Utopia and the Parallax View

Žižek’s Parallax View is probably one of his most misunderstood “major works.” He posits that there are fundamentally different metaphysical worldviews that exist, and that revolutionary politics should not strive towards a synthesis of metaphysical difference into a “one-all” universality. Rather, ... see more

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