Žižek and Freedom: Utopia and the Parallax View

by: Bradley Kaye (Author)

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Edition: 1st ed. 2023

Publication Date: 2023/11/4

Language: English

Print Length: 208 pages

ISBN-10: 3031421507

ISBN-13: 9783031421501

Book Description

This book is an exploration of Žižek’s theory of freedom. By examining key passages in Žižek’s work the aim is to provide a functional, serviceable philosophy of power and ideology and show how this philosophy of power relates to freedom. Although some, like Noam Chomsky, have criticized Žižek’s work as having no guiding principles, it is suggested that this misses the fact that Žižek’s philosophy utilizes a dialectical methodology that often appears contradictory. Though a highly astute reader with a background in the philosophical texts he frequently cites (the German Idealists, Freud, and mode philosophers), it becomes clear that there is a uniquely Zizekian philosophy that mobilizes a radical hermeneutics of freedom.

About the Author

This book is an exploration of Žižek’s theory of freedom. By examining key passages in Žižek’s work the aim is to provide a functional, serviceable philosophy of power and ideology and show how this philosophy of power relates to freedom. Although some, like Noam Chomsky, have criticized Žižek’s work as having no guiding principles, it is suggested that this misses the fact that Žižek’s philosophy utilizes a dialectical methodology that often appears contradictory. Though a highly astute reader with a background in the philosophical texts he frequently cites (the German Idealists, Freud, and mode philosophers), it becomes clear that there is a uniquely Zizekian philosophy that mobilizes a radical hermeneutics of freedom.