Description
Book SynopsisResponses to the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek have been, like Žižek himself, extreme. Critics have accused him of charlatanism on the one hand, while others have lauded his genius, especially as a public intellectual, on the other. This makes it difficult to find any kind of nuanced or interesting critical appraisal of his work.At its best Žižek''s work provides a new foundation of dialectical philosophy, beyond the glitz of stardom or oversimplified sinister disdain.
Žižek Responds! combines philosophers and theorists engaging with Žižek''s philosophy in order to explore its unnoticed implications, its conceptual problems, or its unrealized potential. With detailed and lively responses from Žižek himself, this book offers an unique insight into how this thinker might explain, clarify and hone some of his most controversial and misunderstood ideas. At once an introduction to Žižek''s most important concepts and a rare and novel insight into his thoughts on the criti
Trade ReviewThe contributors to this book let the ancient Socratic utopia of philosophical conversation become real: helping the unborn thoughts of the other to be born. The special twist here is the fact that this 'maieutic' service is mutual: As a most rare chance, the commentators get responses to their responses by the most inspiring philosopher of our time. * Robert Pfaller, Professor of Philosophy, University of Art and Industrial Design, Linz, Austria *
In
Žižek Responds!, some of his most perceptive interlocutors engage his thought on topics including German Idealism, speculative realism, psychoanalysis, dialectical materialism, subjectivity, and the contemporary possibilities of political transformation. Uniformly illuminating, both the essays and Žižek’s own responses elicit the continued dynamism and deep relevance of his ever-expanding
oeuvre. * Paul M. Livingston, Professor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, USA *
Žižek responds to his interlocutors in much the same way that a bridge player responds to their partner’s opening bid. It doesn’t matter who ends up being the dummy, as long as they succeed in defeating their common enemy. * Andrew Cutrofello, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola University Chicago, USA *
Table of ContentsIntroduction,
Dominik Finkelde and Todd McGowan Part I: Ontology 1. Cake or Doughnut?: Žižek and German Idealist Emergentisms,
Adrian Johnston (University of New Mexico, USA) Slavoj Žižek
, Response to Johnston 2. Truth as Bacchanalian Revel: Žižek and the Risks of Irony,
Dominik Finkelde (Munich School of Philosophy, Germany) Slavoj Žižek
, Response to Finkelde 3. Žižek and the Retroactivity of the Real,
Graham Harman (SCI-Arc, Los Angeles, USA) Slavoj Žižek,
Response to Harman 4. Slavoj Žižek’s Hegel,
Robert Pippin (University of Chicago, USA) Slavoj Žižek
, Response to Pippin Part II: Ideology 5. Slavoj Žižek Is Not Violent Enough
, Todd McGowan (University of Vermont, USA) Slavoj Žižek
, Response to McGowan 6. Žižek’s Foundationless Building: Ideology Critique as an Existentialist Choice
, Hilary Neroni (University of Vermont, USA) Slavoj Žižek
, Response to Neroni 7. The Subject is Not Enough,
Henrik Jøker Bjerre (Aalborg University, Denmark) Slavoj Žižek
, Response to Bjerre 8. Žižek and Derrida: Hospitality, Hostility, and the “Real” Neighbor,
Zahi Zalloua (Whitman College, USA) Slavoj Žižek,
Response to Zalloua 9. The Politics of Incompleteness: On Žižek’s Theory of the Subject,
Nadia Bou Ali (
American University of Beirut, Lebanon) Slavoj Žižek,
Response to Nadia Bou Ali Part III: Psychoanalysis 10. Reading the Illegible: On Žižek’s Interpretation of Lacan’s ‘Kant with Sade’
, Dany Nobus (Brunel University London, UK) Slavoj Žižek,
Response to Nobus 11. Raising a Mundane Object to the Dignity of the Thing: When Desire is Not the Desire of the Other,
Mari Ruti (University of Toronto, Canada) Slavoj Žižek
, Response to Ruti 12. Hoping Against Hope: Žižek, Jouissance, and the Impossible,
Jennifer Friedlander (Pomona College, USA) Slavoj Žižek,
Response to Friedlander 13. Psychoanalysis in Exile: Ramblings Without a World,
Duane Rousselle (University of Tyumen, Russia) Slavoj Žižek,
Response to Rousselle 14. Harpo’s Grin: Rethinking Lacan’s Unthinkable “Thing”,
Richard Boothby (Loyola University Maryland, USA) Slavoj Žižek,
Response to Boothby Notes on the Contributors Index
