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Alenka Zupančič (b.1966) is a [[Lacanian ]] [[philosopher ]] and [[social ]] theorist. She is a professor at The European Graduate [[School ]] / EGS and at the [[University ]] of Nova Gorica. As well, Zupančič is a research advisor and professor at the Institute of [[Philosophy ]] at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of [[Sciences ]] and [[Arts]].

She graduated in philosophy from the University of [[Ljubljana ]] in 1990 and received her doctoral degree in 1995. Together with [[Slavoj Žižek ]] and Mladen [[Dolar]], Zupančič is one of the most prominent members of the "Ljubljana school of [[psychoanalysis]]." She is also a renowned [[Nietzsche ]] scholar.

Important themes in Zupančič's [[work ]] include: relations between [[sexuality]], [[ontology ]] and the [[unconscious]]; critique of the [[theory ]] of [[subject]]; and the [[theoretical ]] exploration of the Lacanian [[concept ]] of the [[Real]]. Zupančič is co-editor of the book series and editor in chief of the bi-monthly periodical of [[psychoanalytic ]] theory, philosophy, and [[cultural ]] studies. She is on the advisory board of Philosophy and [[Society ]] as well as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies of Southeastern [[Europe ]] at the University of Rijeka, Croatia. Since the early nineties, Zupančič has continuously published her [[texts ]] in numerous psychoanalytic and [[philosophical ]] anthologies and academic journals including: Filozofski vestnik, New [[Formations]], The American Journal of [[Semiology]], Problemi, Razpol, Umbr(a),[[Lacanian Ink]], Identiteti, [[Parallax]], and [[others]].

Numerous works of Alenka Zupančič have been translated into [[English]], but the most influential is (2003). In this work, Zupančič explores several aspects of Nietzsche’s philosophy, especially those that have found their way into our [[present ]] ([[postmodern]]) condition: the [[death ]] of God, the ascetic [[ideal]], [[nihilism]], and the [[relationship ]] between Nietzsche’s philosophy and the [[notion ]] of [[truth]]. She devotes [[particular ]] attention to the spiritual hour that Nietzsche describes as “Noon” and claims that this is a [[time ]] of “the shortest shadow” or a [[moment ]] of splitting––when “One turns into Two.” According to Zupančič, the notion of the Two is extremely important in the work of [[Friedrich Nietzsche ]] because it can be best described as the irreducible [[difference]].

In her book on Immanuel [[Kant]], (2000), Zupančič re-examines Kantian [[ethics ]] with the aid of psychoanalytic [[vocabulary ]] in which the Lacanian concept of [[the Real ]] serves as the basis for the reinterpretation of Kantian ethics. The notion of the Real helps Zupančič to formulate her version of Kantian ethics, which she entitles “the ethics of the real.”

In (2008), Alenka Zupančič explores the inter-relationship between [[comedy ]] and philosophy/psychoanalysis. Her [[claim ]] is that this relationship is far from simple and it can be dated back to the lost second book of Aristotle’s that supposedly included the examination of the [[nature ]] of comedy and the [[analysis ]] of what is funny. Zupančič insists that comedy is inherently subversive and makes a [[distinction ]] between “comedy” and “cheerfulness.” Unlike “comedy,” “cheerfulness” is described as something that is ideologically imposed and therefore fundamentally problematic. Her book provides numerous examples from both philosophy and popular [[culture ]] (Borat, [[Hegel]], George W. [[Bush]], [[Freud]], [[Aristophanes]], etc.), and it describes how comedy is capable of letting the odd one in.

Alenka Zupančič’s latest book in English is (2008). The book revolves around the questions of [[Being]], [[Freedom]], and Comedy. In this work, Zupančič attempts to connect her earlier reinterpretation of Kantian ethics with her [[understanding ]] of comedy and to [[outline ]] a unique theory of [[The Subject|the subject]].

Her most [[recent ]] work concerns the relationship between sexuality and ontology. According to Zupančič, Freud claims that sexuality is fundamentally problematic because it is [[impossible ]] to describe it or to delineate it in precise and fixed [[terms]]. Therefore, the main characteristic of sexuality is its [[impossibility ]] of being bounded or demarcated. As such, sexuality is important because it points outward toward a non-reducible [[ontological ]] [[inconsistency]].