Great Minds: Slavoj Žižek

Modern radical thinker Slavoj Žižek spoke on the 1st July as part of the 'Great Minds' series, and affirmed his status as a great mind of modern philosophy and social, cultural and political theory. Starbucks, social solidarity and self-commodification were among the varied and enlightening topics touched upon by Žižek, all grounded by his interpretation of ideology and its continuing importance.

One of Europe's foremost Marxist theorists, Žižek criticised modern leftist groups who, he argued, didn't really know how to cope with the upheaval of the 'sublime' moment (revelation that an assumed state of total happiness is actually nonexistent). The question of 'what happens next' has been asked since the dwindling exhaustion of modernism into postmodernism. Žižek asks us to put ideological pressure on modern life, confirming the presence of ideological symbolism even in blatant popular culture (such as two Oscar-winning films, The King's Speech and Black Swan [2010]).

His manner was sometimes serious, sometimes comic and vaguely apocalyptic (he is a self confessed pessimist), which all together made for an engaging talk, dense in historical, anecdotal and political references. The combination of issues allowed the modern audience member to examine their own behaviour alongside Hegelian optimism, Freudian self-commodification and Marxist ideas of social roles, in a non 'academic' sense, referring to the purchasing of Starbucks coffee as a subconscious purchasing of social solidarity built into the price. An audience member asks 'isn't it the case that people know that what they're doing is buying a coffee that will then, in some sort of self-serving way, make them feel better about themselves?', thus showing that ideology is no longer a 'smokescreen' of sorts. Žižek answers by claiming that we follow things, knowing that they are ideologies, and this does not necessarily make them 'right' or true. This is where the notion of ideology seems to be headed; to a total self consciousness -- as with a Hegelian resolution of the 'Zeitgeist' (Žižek is actually close to the publishing of an 800 page book on Hegel).

In his relatively brief talk, Slavoj Žižek managed to expose our susceptibility to certain ideologies, thus proving their ever present role in modern society - not bad for a Friday night in West London, perhaps the capital of the British bourgeoisie.

[njits]

I think this is the best, most consistent talk I have seen of him here on YT. And I have seen a lot of them.

[ComradeDt]

i love slavoj, you know? hes good and so on and so on

[alilyoung]

You know he’s a great mind when this is still relevant today.

[jopeDE]

I think this is the best talk on ideology i have ever listend to.

[alexpetrowmoser]

I've watched a lot of zizek this year and last night I met zizek in my dream. We looked at museums where I work and I tried to be smart and give big explanations but he I got the notion that it was insignificant to him until he asked me what church was the most beautiful in Tyrol where I am from and I told him the court church but it was more like a museum to me. Either way, we went around Innsbruck and we made some pictures. It was a nice dream. Miss you slavoi

[ariflanzraich]

I cant tell if his open-endedness is a compliment, in that he assumes we are all intelligent enough to fill in the blanks, or if he is just so dishevelled that its a naturally product of his brain activity. Either way, love him!

[habibie]

I am Zizekian! Long live Zizek!
Superb!!!!

[Torrriate]

I've had a feeling for so long why my intellectual peers are wrong in so many points of their world view, but I couldn't point it out, thus wasn't taken seriously. Now Zizek points it out clearly, what's wrong with them. He even goes beyond and shows even me new perspectives. Kudos to this man.

[nachannachle]

This man has VERY original observations. Ideology is still alive and thriving, for better and worst.

[sawtoothiandi]

By far the clearest presentation of Slavoj's i've heard, or perhaps i'm now getting the gist of it!?

[MyTomServo]

I have no idea what he's talking about, but it's fascinating

[jccusell]

It's good thing Slavoj is still around. One of the few Marxist intellectuals left in academia these days. He really challenges the main stream ideas common in so many social an political science curricula.

[vanhavirta]

The worst use of "I'll try to keep this brief" at the end (by an audience member). :)

Awesome lecture.

[timtillack]

Thanks. This was a wonderful call to critical thinkers and intellectuals

[dariopavicic]

I have quite convincing sentence for religious individuals here, which might imply an afterlife: "she died and SO ON... ( 1:07:00 )". Haters will say it's a proverb, taken out of context.

[rumiumegaki]

The Charing Philosopher. I could listen to him for hours

[intanhidayat]

Even the first minute was a genius statement. Love that punch.

[oddnejmus]

Sometimes I think Zizek's greatness lies in his ability, not to invent new material or produce original thought, but rather in finding pop cultural pearls.

[m-bronte]

People don't act on what they believe because society has invested a lot of money into making us all feel insecure and not sure of what we see and know. We are all in a constant state of insecurity 24/7. Even if you think your not, YOU ARE!

[TheodoraKimmelHello]

Does anyone else think that because we did not come up with Ancient Greek Philosophy, but have attempted to apply it, that we might be able to avoid a “fall of Rome, ” but more dealing with of things “falling into place.”