Lecture Notes: Celebration of Slavoj Žižek at 75

Introduction

• Venue: Royal Geographical Society
• Occasion: 75th Birthday Celebration of Slavoj Žižek
• Theme: Žižek's radical and brilliant contributions
• Speaker's Personal Note: Žižek as a loyal friend, despite disagreements

Žižek's Philosophical Perspective

• Living Contradiction: Žižek embodies Hegelian dialectics
• Three Fixations: Lacan, Marx, Hegel
• Anglo-Saxon Philosophy: Typically bypasses Hegel
  • Celebration of Hegel: Žižek's acclaim in a traditionally Hegel-averse culture

Hegel vs. Marx

• Materialism Debate: Žižek posits Hegel as more materialistic than Marx
• Determinism: Critique of deterministic readings of Marx
• Contingency in Philosophy: Hegel's openness to future possibilities
  • Example: Retrospective understanding of events, e.g., love or capitalism

Lacan's Influence

• Understanding Power: Lacan's relevance in explaining political power
• Psychoanalytic Insights: Freud's notions on repression and hysteria
• Repressive Desublimation: Conceptualized by Frankfurt School

Contemporary Politics: Trump

• Trump's Political Persona: A mix of fundamentalist values and postmodernist tactics
• Sincerity Perception: Trump's lies perceived as sincerity by his followers
• Psychoanalysis of Authority: Use of obscene and unconventional tactics

Social and Political Theory

• Radical Center: The threat to radical thinkers from centralist ideologies
• Communism Today: Embrace of communism with contradictions
  • Challenges: Addressing corporate power: Google, Meta, Amazon
  • Neo-Feudalism: Privatization of commons as a modern form of control

Conclusion

• Future Directions: Need for social control over mega-corporations
• Call to Action: De-fetishize tech giants and re-evaluate the commons

Additional Thoughts

• Žižek's Humor and Style: Provocative, engaging, and at times controversial
• Philosophical Engagement: Encouragement to read Žižek's works for deeper insights