I Don't Get Zizek

[DasFapital]

I know a lot of people on here are big fans of him but his philosophy seems all over the place. I just wanna know is he a Marxist or not?

[Lenina Rosenweg]

I believe he claims to be a revolutionary Marxist. He was a student of the French psychoanalyst and philosopher Jacques Lacan who became a Maoist. I think Zizek himself came from a semi-Maoist background.

Interestingly he ran as a candidate for the Liberal Party in Slovenia and (as far as I know) seemed to advocate neoliberalism.

Zizek is a bit all over the place. His critiques of liberalism and post-modernism are really good. He says he wants to "reanimate Lenin" but he sees the modern Lenin as..computer hackers.In
In Defense of Lost Causes" he spends quite a long time discussing the crimes of Stalinism and then claims Stalin "saved civilization". At times he's brilliant, most other times he appears to be something of a poser trying to be provocative.

Recently, when rell class struggles are happening, he seems to have improved a lot. His speeches and articles about Ocuppy and the current protest movements are very good.

[DasFapital]

Lacan eh? Another guy I need to remind myself to read more about. I understand he was kind of like the freud of marxism.

[o well this is ok I guess]

he spends quite a long time discussing the crimes of Stalinism and then claims Stalin "saved civilization". I doubt he meant it as a good thing. Western civilization sucks, man

[Revolution starts with U]

poser trying to be provocative.

I kind of fall into this camp. No matter how many good things he does say, he just seems too all over the place to be genuine.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

You don't get him? Well don't worry 'cause neither do we.

I actually find his position on the environment intriguing though.Though I haven't looked into it since that video in Sciences&Environments what he claimed about needing to become more artificial was stark to what is normally said.

But yeah, it would be nice if he held a bit more coherency.

[Hiero]

I believe he claims to be a revolutionary Marxist. He was a student of the French psychoanalyst and philosopher Jacques Lacan who became a Maoist. I think Zizek himself came from a semi-Maoist background.

Are you saying Lacan is a Maoist or Zizek?

[workerist]

zizek thinks humanity will need to take some collective action on a grand scale to address certain problems under capitalism dealing with ecological destruction, the biogenetic revolution, and copyright issues, etc., these things he believes cannot be solved through the market or the state, so that's why he still calls himself a "marxist". i am not a zizekian but this is from my limited understand by hearing a few of his lectures. i think he explains this in his "what does it mean to be a revolutionary today" talk at the marxism conference

[Martin Blank]

Zizek is a liberal poseur masquerading as a "Marxist". He's an "empty carb" -- all he'll do is slow you down and make your politics soft.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

Are you saying Lacan is a Maoist or Zizek?

Lacan was a Maoist. Zizek I think originally regarded himself as a "post-Maoist", his early books were kind of Maoist.

Lacan, BTW, is basically impenetrable. I've tried to read him several times, did not get very far. Very dense, super abstract jargon. This doesn't mean he didn't have important things to say, its that no one understands him.Sort of a type of super Hegelian inspired Freudianism with Marx and Mao thrown in, I think.

[Dexalin]

I think the appeal of Žižek is his ability to break down the headier concepts from Marx, Hegel and Lacan using amusing and modern examples in pop culture. Personally, I think his thoughts come across more clearly on the page than he does in person. During his lectures he has a habit of derailing a discussion to recite something from one of his books or to simply be amusing, but his actual books show a bit more focus than that.

My problem with Žižek is that as a theorist, he thinks his job should be exclusively offering critique and shedding some light on problems that contemporary society faces. While he does a pretty good job of that (I think his essay on Robespierre and revolutionary terror is a good example of this), he refuses to really offer any direction towards solutions. Because of this, it's best to read Žižek not expecting for him to be some end-all contemporary Marxist theorist.


Lacan, BTW, is basically impenetrable.

This is absolutely true, you aren't going to get very far reading Lacan, and his screen presence on television was absolutely strange. You're better off reading another theorist who can unpack his abstraction like Žižek or Baudrillard, among others.

[L.A.P.]

Zizek is a liberal poseur -- all he'll do is slow you down and make your politics soft.

I don't know man, I'm pretty sure I was more liberal before I read Lacan and Zizek. For starters, I try not to obsess over trivial ideological shit as much anymore.


Lacan was a Maoist. Zizek I think originally regarded himself as a "post-Maoist", his early books were kind of Maoist

Pretty much all French 20th-century philosophers were Maoists. Zizek was a Marxist humanist most of his life dissenting against SFR Yugoslavia, that's where his liberalism came from. He described it as being on the other side of the Western social democrats believeing in a "capitalism with a human face."


Sort of a type of super Hegelian inspired Freudianism with Marx and Mao thrown in, I think.

Lacan's thought is basically psychoanalysis synthesized with structural linguistics and Hegelian philosophy.

[Hiero]

Lacan was a Maoist. Zizek I think originally regarded himself as a "post-Maoist", his early books were kind of Maoist.

Lacan, BTW, is basically impenetrable. I've tried to read him several times, did not get very far. Very dense, super abstract jargon. This doesn't mean he didn't have important things to say, its that no one understands him.Sort of a type of super Hegelian inspired Freudianism with Marx and Mao thrown in, I think.

Where has Lacan or anyone else regarded Lacan as a Maoist? I think you are very much mistaken.

[bricolage]

he's a troll and I respect him for that, but not much else.
violence was quite a good book though.

[brigadista]

too long winded and whimsical for me

[Igor]

Žižek doesn't get Žižek.