Difference between revisions of "Talk:Slavoj Zizek"

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Slavoj Žižek is Senior Researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He is the author of numerous books, including The Sublime Object of Ideology and Enjoy Your Symptom!
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{{Infobox:Philosopher
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| region = Western Philosophy
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| era = [[20th-century philosophy]], [[21st-century philosophy]]
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He was analysed by Jacques Alain Miller, Jacques Lacan's son in law
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| name = Slavoj Žižek
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| birth = {{birth date and age|1949|3|21}} <br /> {{flagicon|SFR Yugoslavia}} [[Ljubljana]], [[Slovenia]], then [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]]
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| death =
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| school_tradition = [[Postmodern philosophy]], [[post-Marxism]]
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| influences = [[René Descartes]], [[Georg Hegel]], [[Jacques Lacan]], [[Karl Marx]]
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Žižek is well-known for his employing [[Lacanian psychoanalysis|Lacanian psychoanalytic theory]] in his readings of [[popular culture]] (from the [[films]] of [[Alfred Hitchcock]] and [[David Lynch]], to the [[literature]] of [[Kafka]] or [[Shakespeare]]).
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In addition, he writes on a great range of topics, such as [[fundamentalism]], [[tolerance]], [[multiculturalism]], [[political correctness]], [[globalization]], [[human rights]], [[political subjectivity]], [[cyberspace]], [[post-modernism]], [[Leninism]], etc.
  
Zizek was a visiting professor at the Department of Psychoanalysis, Universite Paris-VIII in 1982-3 and 1985-6, at the Centre for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Art, SUNY Buffalo, 1991-2, at the Department of Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 1992, at the Tulane University, New Orleans, 1993, at the Cardozo Law School, New York, 1994, at the Columbia University, New York, 1995, at the Princeton University (1996), at the New School for Social Research, New York, 1997, at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 1998, and at the Georgetown University, Washington, 1999. He is a returning faculty member of the European Graduate School. In the last 20 years Zizek has participated in over 350 international philosophical, psychoanalytical and cultural-criticism symposiums in USA, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Netherland, Island, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Brasil, Mexico, Israel, Romania, Hungary and Japan. He is the founder and president of the Society for Theoretical Psychoanalysis, Ljubljana.
 
  
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==Ideas==
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A highly prolific and entertaining writer, Z•iz•ek is probably one of the most astute observers of postmodern culture, both high and low. In breathtaking analyses of such diverse authors as Lacan, Hegel, Marx, Schelling, and Hitchcock, Wagner, Raymond Chandler and Ridley Scott, Z•iz•ek traces the structure of fantasy as it is produced by and resists late capitalist forms of power. What defines these structures of power is the demise of a formally neutral Law (the Lacanian Master Signifier) in favor of Z•iz•ek’s  articular appropriation of the Freudian superego; a structure of power that demands a transgression of the Law, its suspension, and the identification with perverse enjoyment or jouissance. God has, as Z•iz•ek puts it, left the symbolic order and reverted to the Real. The rise of the Super-ego bespeaks the decline of traditional paternal authority and finds its expression in two ‘‘figures’’: the maternal superego who blocks man’s access to normal enjoyment (this, according to Z•iz•ek, is what defines the Hitchcockian universe) and the anal-sadistic father who is not the agent of the symbolic Law, of repression, but he who is too alive, who ‘‘knows too much,’’ who commands his own enjoyment at the expense of the now destitute subject. Such super-egoic power produces the postmodern subject and object, and it is these that are the focus of  •iz•ek’s analysis. The subject is the  ‘pathological Narcissus,’’ the successor to both the Oedipal, autonomous individual of liberalism and the heteronomous organization man of imperial capitalism. The narcissistic subject has abandoned the integration into the symbolic order and instead plays a multiplicity of roles according to rules of a game. Conformism viewed as being beyond the law exacts, however, greater pressures from an ever more punitive super-ego. Z•iz•ek’s most important contributions are to post-Marxist theory, in particular to the theory of ideology and fantasy, as well as to the interpretation of popular and mass culture. In the latter area, his readings of Hitchcock’s films are of special interest.
  
Born on March 21, 1949, in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Bachelor of Arts (philosophy and sociology, 1971), Master of Arts (philosophy, 1975), and Doctor of Arts (philosophy, 1981) at the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana. Doctor of Arts (psychoanalysis, 1985) at the Universite Paris-VIII.
 
  
In Paris besides being sponsored for his thesis by François Regnault and Jacques-Alain Miller, he went into analysis with the latter for several years.
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From 1979 researcher at the Institute for sociology and philosophy, University of Ljubljana (from 1992 Institute for Social Sciences, Faculty for Social Sciences).
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Visiting professor at the Department of Psychoanalysis, Universite Paris-VIII (1982-3 and 1985-6), at the Centre for the Study of Psychoanalysis and Art, SUNY Buffalo (1991-2), at the Department of Comparative Literature, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis (1992), at the Tulane University, New Orleans (1993), at the Cardozo Law School, New York (1994) at the Columbia University, New York (1995), at the Princeton University (1996), at the New School for Social Research, New York (1997), at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1998), and at the Georgetown University, Washington (1999).
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In the last 20 years participation at over 350 international philosophical, psychoanalytical and cultural-criticism symposiums in USA, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Netherland, Island, Austria, Australia, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Spain, Brasil, Mexico, Israel, Romania, Hungary and Japan.
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Founder and president of the Society for Theoretical Psychoanalysis, Ljubljana. Editor of the following book series: Analecta (in Slovene), Wo es war (in German), Wo es war (with Verso) and SIC (with Duke UP) in English. Politically active in the alternative movement in Slovenia during the 80s; candidate for the presidency of the Republic of Slovenia in the first multi-party elections in 1990. Ambassador of Science of the Republic of Slovenia (1991).
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{{See}}
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:1. [[Slavoj Žižek#Biography|Biography]]
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:2. [[Slavoj Žižek#Books|Books]]
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:3. [[Slavoj Žižek#Bibliography:Articles|Articles]]
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:4. [[Slavoj Žižek#Bibliography:Links|Links]]
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{{Also}}
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Latest revision as of 21:20, 31 July 2012

Western Philosophy
20th-century philosophy, 21st-century philosophy
Slavoj Zizek Oxford Amnesty Lecture 20040128 adjusted.jpg
Name: Slavoj Žižek
Birth: Template:Birth date and age
Template:Flagicon Ljubljana, Slovenia, then Yugoslavia
School/tradition: Postmodern philosophy, post-Marxism
Influences: René Descartes, Georg Hegel, Jacques Lacan, Karl Marx

Žižek is well-known for his employing Lacanian psychoanalytic theory in his readings of popular culture (from the films of Alfred Hitchcock and David Lynch, to the literature of Kafka or Shakespeare). In addition, he writes on a great range of topics, such as fundamentalism, tolerance, multiculturalism, political correctness, globalization, human rights, political subjectivity, cyberspace, post-modernism, Leninism, etc.


Ideas

A highly prolific and entertaining writer, Z•iz•ek is probably one of the most astute observers of postmodern culture, both high and low. In breathtaking analyses of such diverse authors as Lacan, Hegel, Marx, Schelling, and Hitchcock, Wagner, Raymond Chandler and Ridley Scott, Z•iz•ek traces the structure of fantasy as it is produced by and resists late capitalist forms of power. What defines these structures of power is the demise of a formally neutral Law (the Lacanian Master Signifier) in favor of Z•iz•ek’s articular appropriation of the Freudian superego; a structure of power that demands a transgression of the Law, its suspension, and the identification with perverse enjoyment or jouissance. God has, as Z•iz•ek puts it, left the symbolic order and reverted to the Real. The rise of the Super-ego bespeaks the decline of traditional paternal authority and finds its expression in two ‘‘figures’’: the maternal superego who blocks man’s access to normal enjoyment (this, according to Z•iz•ek, is what defines the Hitchcockian universe) and the anal-sadistic father who is not the agent of the symbolic Law, of repression, but he who is too alive, who ‘‘knows too much,’’ who commands his own enjoyment at the expense of the now destitute subject. Such super-egoic power produces the postmodern subject and object, and it is these that are the focus of •iz•ek’s analysis. The subject is the ‘pathological Narcissus,’’ the successor to both the Oedipal, autonomous individual of liberalism and the heteronomous organization man of imperial capitalism. The narcissistic subject has abandoned the integration into the symbolic order and instead plays a multiplicity of roles according to rules of a game. Conformism viewed as being beyond the law exacts, however, greater pressures from an ever more punitive super-ego. Z•iz•ek’s most important contributions are to post-Marxist theory, in particular to the theory of ideology and fantasy, as well as to the interpretation of popular and mass culture. In the latter area, his readings of Hitchcock’s films are of special interest.


1. Biography
2. Books
3. Articles
4. Links