On Zizek's Dialectics: Surplus, Subtraction, Sublimation (Continuum Studies in Continental Philosophy, 45) - Hardcover

Vighi, Fabio

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826464432 ISBN 13: 9780826464439

Publisher: Continuum, 2010

Synopsis

On Žižek's Dialectics explores the theoretical and practical potential of the psychoanalytic method deployed by Slavoj Žižek by investigating its epistemological implications within our contemporary capitalist universe. The book begins by evaluating Zizek's account of the capitalist ideology of enjoyment through the analysis of Lacan's critique of Marx's surplus-value. If the originality of Žižek's wager lies in the claim that enjoyment secretly sustains our ideological space, can we think of surplus-jouissance in a way that not only unmasks the ruse of capitalism but also adumbrates the construction of an alternative social space?

The answer to this question is developed in the second part of the book. Arguing that the transformative potential of Zizek's epistemology needs to be fully unravelled if it is to avoid the risk of congealing into mere academic exercise, Fabio Vighi attempts to politicise Žižek's groundbreaking critical method by calling upon the necessity to translate its emphasis on the "indigestible" surplus of knowledge into the drive to think the new. Under the current conditions, this creative moment can no longer be delayed.
On Žižek's Dialectics explores the theoretical and practical potential of the psychoanalytic method deployed by Slavoj Žižek by investigating its epistemological implications within our contemporary capitalist universe. The book begins by evaluating Zizek's account of the capitalist ideology of enjoyment through the analysis of Lacan's critique of Marx's surplus-value. If the originality of Žižek's wager lies in the claim that enjoyment secretly sustains our ideological space, can we think of surplus-jouissance in a way that not only unmasks the ruse of capitalism but also adumbrates the construction of an alternative social space?

The answer to this question is developed in the second part of the book. Arguing that the transformative potential of Zizek's epistemology needs to be fully unravelled if it is to avoid the risk of congealing into mere academic exercise, Fabio Vighi attempts to politicise Žižek's groundbreaking critical method by calling upon the necessity to translate its emphasis on the "indigestible" surplus of knowledge into the drive to think the new. Under the current conditions, this creative moment can no longer be delayed.

About this title

Book Description:

An examination of Zizek's groundbreaking psychoanalytic methodology and its implications within our contemporary capitalist universe.

About the Author:

Fabio Vighi is Senior Lecturer and co-director of the Žižek Centre for Ideology Critique at Cardiff University, UK. He is the author of Žižek: Beyond Foucault (2007, with Heiko Feldner), Sexual Difference in European Cinema (2008), and On Žižek's Dialectics: Surplus, Subtraction, Sublimation (2010).

About this edition

• Publisher: Continuum
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0826464432
• ISBN 13: 9780826464439
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208