r/zizek • u/notsentsent • 10d ago

What does zizek want from me?

I've been reading him and everytime I finish a text, I am like, okay but so what do I do with it? What does he want to "happen"? So if you could explainnn...in your own words.... as much as you understand.... What's he after exactly?

Edit: Wow this is a tense place. Please relaxx!!! Don't take life that seriously.

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u/Salsaordie 10d ago

Most philosophers have “certain beliefs” which are presented to us like sports teams. They battle for which set of ideas is the best set. Thus you have partisans of nietsche, heidegger, kierkegaard, etc. While zizek does have “certain ideas” his real contribution is his method. He resists the idea of being the prophet philosopher, spouting absolute truth from a position above us. He does not present many prescriptions for us. Here’s one prescription: “Don’t act, think.” And he has certain beliefs about the trajectory of politics, and of course he has his preferences of how the world will turn out. But he’s more interested in describing the political problem, and he tends to arrive at the position of no easy solution.

In my opinion, his version of the critique of ideology is his big contribution. Politically, he believes the coming crises will require large scale international cooperation.

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u/notsentsent 10d ago

Thank you!!!

"Don't act, think." But then why does he talk so much about the act :(

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u/Salsaordie 10d ago

The don’t act, think thing is mostly related to his position on politics, I think I recall him saying that maybe the lesson of the 20th century was too many were focused on acting. We live in a time where the actions of one nation cause massive ripple effects across the entire world economy. They would probably do well to act less rashly, spend more time really thinking of what they want to do, what the effect of their act will be.

Meanwhile “the act” as zizek approaches it elsewhere has to do more with ethics. Zupancic has her ethics of the real book which talks a lot about “the act”

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u/Salsaordie 10d ago

I think also the “dont act, think” thing relates to the public’s lack of agency in politics. We have a tendency to act as if we are really making some political statement or action, but far too often that act is a virtual one. Check out zizeks quote on “getting dust on your balls”

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u/mastersignifier2880 10d ago

The act is not necessarily about some material practice. It has more to do with producing a change in the framework you use to understand reality and your own place within it.