In Defense of Lost Causes

Zizek, Slavoj

ISBN 10: 1844674290 / ISBN 13: 9781844674299

Published by Verso, 2009

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: In Defense of Lost Causes
• Publisher: Verso
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1844674290
• ISBN 13: 9781844674299
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Acclaimed, adrenalin-fuelled manifesto for universal values by 'the most dangerous philosopher in the West.'

In this combative major new work, philosophical sharpshooter Slavoj Zizek looks for the kernel of truth in the totalitarian politics of the past.

Examining Heidegger's seduction by fascism and Foucault's flirtation with the Iranian Revolution, he suggests that these were the 'right steps in the wrong direction.' On the revolutionary terror of Robespierre, Mao and the Bolsheviks, Zizek argues that while these struggles ended in historic failure and horror, there was a valuable core of idealism lost beneath the bloodshed.

A redemptive vision has been obscured by the soft, decentralized politics of the liberal-democratic consensus. Faced with the coming ecological crisis, Zizek argues the case for revolutionary terror and the dictatorship of the proletariat. A return to past ideals is needed despite the risks. In the words of Samuel Beckett: 'Try again. Fail again. Fail better.'

About the Author

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His books include Living in the End Times, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, In Defense of Lost Causes, four volumes of the Essential Žižek, and many more.