Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic, born on March 21, 1949, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, then part of Yugoslavia. He is widely recognized for his contributions to social theory, psychoanalysis, and film criticism, having published over fifty books throughout his prolific career. Žižek's work often intertwines the ideas of major thinkers like Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, focusing on themes of ideology, capitalism, and political critique.
He first gained international attention with his book "The Sublime Object of Ideology" in 1989, which laid the groundwork for his reputation as a significant contemporary theorist. Žižek is known for his engaging and provocative speaking style, which has earned him a substantial following among leftist academics and intellectuals. He has taught at prominent universities, including New York University and Columbia University, and has been involved in various academic and cultural institutions, such as the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities in London.
Žižek's interest in film is notable, as he has explored cinematic works from philosophical and psychoanalytic perspectives in documentaries like "The Pervert's Guide to Cinema" and "The Pervert's Guide to Ideology." Despite his acclaim, his work has faced criticism for its lack of concrete alternatives to the systems he critiques. Through his writings and lectures, Žižek continues to influence contemporary thought on ideology, politics, and culture.
Slavoj Žižek
Philosopher
- Born: March 21, 1949
- Birthplace: Ljubljana, Slovenia
Education: University of Ljubljana
Significance: Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher known for his work in psychoanalysis, political theory, and film theory. His first English language book, The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989), earned him international acclaim as a social theorist. Since then, Žižek has produced dozens of writings on a range of philosophical subjects. Alongside his highly productive writing career, Žižek has also taught and lectured at various institutions around the world.
Background
Slavoj Žižek was born on March 21, 1949, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, then a part of the communist country known as Yugoslavia. Compared to other communist countries, Yugoslavia provided its citizens with a certain amount of freedom due to its self-sufficient socialist economy. Žižek had access to a number of American and European films growing up thanks to the local university keeping copies of any films it received for distribution in the archives. He developed a love for such films from an early age. Throughout his teens, he eagerly read any English literature he could get his hands on, believing it to be superior to Slovenian literature. He was especially fond of detective fiction. Alongside his love of fictional entertainment, Žižek also took an interest in philosophy. By the age of seventeen, he was determined to pursue a career as a philosopher.
Žižek enrolled at the University of Ljubljana where he studied philosophy and sociology. He had his first book published at age twenty before earning his bachelor's degree in 1971. He remained at the University of Ljubljana to complete a master's in philosophy. His four-hundred-page thesis titled "The Theoretical and Practical Relevance of French Structuralism" was deemed suspicious by his thesis panel, however, losing him a position on the university's faculty after graduating in 1975. Authorities believed Žižek would be a bad influence on students and encourage them toward dissident thinking.
Žižek spent the next few years serving in the Yugoslav Army, occasionally translating German philosophy for extra cash. He then took a position writing speeches for communist leaders at the Central Committee of the League of Slovene Communists in 1977. He continued to independently study philosophy during this time, devoting much of his studies to the works of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. He and a group of Slovenian scholars founded the Society for Theoretical Psychoanalysis in Ljubljana. Žižek later earned a Ph.D. in German idealism in 1981, after which he relocated to Paris to study under Jacques-Alain Miller, Lacan's son-in-law. In France, Žižek earned a second doctorate in psychoanalysis at the Universite Paris-VIII. He returned to Slovenia in the late 1980s and began writing columns for the anti-communist publication Mladina. He also cofounded the Slovenian Liberal Democratic Party and narrowly missed winning a spot among the party's candidates for the presidency in 1990.
Life's Work
Žižek published his first English text, The Sublime Object of Ideology, in 1989. The book analyzed the works of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud and examined the notion of ideology through the lens of Immanuel Kant's concept of the sublime. The Sublime Object of Ideology received much international attention, earning Žižek a distinguished reputation as a social theorist. Considered one of Žižek's greatest works, the text marked the beginning of what became a prolific publishing career for the philosopher. Over the next three decades, Žižek would publish more than fifty books and edit a number of academic collections. His most highly regarded books include Tarrying with the Negative (1993), The Plague of Fantasies (1997), The Ticklish Subject (1999), The Fragile Absolute (2000), The Puppet and the Dwarf (2004), The Parallax View (2006), Living in the End Times (2010), and Less Than Nothing (2012).
Many of his works focused on examining society through the lens of his favorite philosophers: Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, and Lacan. He also repeatedly returned to the theme of politics and psychoanalysis, specifically the political implications of psychoanalysis and how psychoanalysis can be used in political activities aimed at ending exploitation. He was known to criticize capitalism, liberalism, conservatism, and political correctness, garnering him a cult following among left-leaning academics. Despite his popularity, Žižek's work was repeatedly criticized for its inability to formulate alternatives to the political and social institutions he argued against. He was also routinely accused of lacking preciseness in his logical reasoning.
In addition to writing, Žižek also spent a great deal of time traveling the globe giving lectures on his work. Outside his writing endeavors, he held a number of teaching positions throughout his career at institutions including New York University, Columbia University, Georgetown University, Princeton University, and the New School for Social Research. He became a returning professor of philosophy at the European Graduate School in Switzerland and was later named a senior researcher at the Institute for Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Ljubljana. In 2005, he was appointed international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities in London, England. He also served as president of the Society for Theoretical Psychoanalysis, Ljubljana, which he founded. Žižek's career was highlighted in the 2005 documentary Žižek.
Žižek remained a lover of film over the years and published several writings on film theory. In 2006, he starred in the documentary The Pervert's Guide to Cinema. Žižek wrote the film's script, which discussed a number of classic films from a philosophical and a psychoanalytic perspective. He also wrote and starred in the follow-up documentary The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012), which examined the concept of ideology, exploring how ideologies presented in films inform people's beliefs and behaviors.
Impact
Scholars have called Žižek one of the most brilliant and formidable European theorists of modern philosophy. He has become known for his unusual speaking style and provocative commentary. Although he is often considered a hero of the liberal left, he has regularly criticized the foundations of liberalism. He continued his publishing streak through the 2010s, maintaining much his focus on political philosophy.
Personal Life
Žižek has been married three times to Renata Salecl, Analia Hounie, and Jela Krečič. He has a son.
Principal Works
Nonfiction
The Sublime Object of Ideology, 1989
Tarrying with the Negative, 1993
The Plague of Fantasies, 1997
The Ticklish Subject, 1999
The Fragile Absolute, 2000
The Puppet and the Dwarf, 2004
The Parallax View, 2006
Living in the End Times, 2010
Less Than Nothing, 2012
Film
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema, 2006
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, 2012
Bibliography
Aitkenhead, Decca. "Slavoj Žižek: 'Humanity Is OK, but 99% of People Are Boring Idiots.'" Guardian, 10 June 2012, www.theguardian.com/culture/2012/jun/10/slavoj-zizek-humanity-ok-people-boring. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.
Brown, Helen. "Slavoj Zizek: The World's Hippest Philosopher." Telegraph, 5 July 2010, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/7871302/Slavoj-Zizek-the-worlds-hippest-philosopher.html. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.
"Slavoj Zizek." Birbeck University of London, www.bbk.ac.uk/bih/aboutus/staff/zizek. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.
"Slavoj Žižek." European Graduate School, egs.edu/faculty/slavoj-zizek. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.
"Slavoj Žižek, Curriculum Vitae." Global Academy for Future Civilizations, gafc.khu.ac.kr/gep/download/2016‗inform/Slavoj%20Zizek.doc. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.
"Slavoj Zizek—His Life." Lacanian Ink, www.lacan.com/zizekchro1.htm. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.
"Slavoj Žižek (1949–)." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, www.iep.utm.edu/zizek/#H1. Accessed 13 Sept. 2017.