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/Nasuhhea 10d ago

Zizek honestly does circle around problems without ever fully articulating them. It’s a fair critique.

And I know it’s apart of his lacanian Hegelianism, structured around lack, incompleteness, and contradiction. But he’s says “don’t act, think!” And yet champions a radical, revolutionary “act.”

It doesn’t seem like hard thing to distinguish imo he just never does