Critiquing Slavoj Žižek's 'Violence'

Here’s a video examining Slavoj Žižek’s book “Violence” in a bit more detail. It’s got some interesting things to say about politics, democracy, and capitalism, but there’s some problems too.

Twitter: @PhilosophyTube

Recommended Reading:

If you or your organisation would like to financially support Philosophy Tube in distributing philosophical knowledge to those who might not otherwise have access to it in exchange for credits on the show, please get in touch!

Any copyrighted material should fall under fair use for educational purposes or commentary, but if you are a copyright holder and believe your material has been used unfairly please get in touch with us and we will be happy to discuss it.

[supernova]

As a long time viewer who hasn't watched your entire backlog, i appreciate you're still leaving older vids up. When this video first came out, i skipped it because I wasn't familiar with the subject matter. I'm glad to be able to revisit it now as I'm getting bombarded with Zizek content

[digitalbrentable]

Žižek's theory is a lot like his public speaking skills; kind of sloppy and all over the place, hard to follow, sometimes incoherent, and peppered with conventional no-no's. And yet, somehow, this overweight, heavily accented, lefty academic with a hobo beard and compulsive speech ticks is rather charming, persuasive, and more resonant in his hits than alienating with his misses.

He's not a perfect philosopher, but I'd say he does more good than harm. He's played a big role in building class conciousness in myself and many others, and I think this is his big strong suit. Slavoj Žižek is a great place to begin when it comes to contemporary socialist theory, but a terrible place to stop.

[conanbarbarian]

I got a Prager university ad on this video. I guess YouTube really is going downhill.

[vagrant]

This * *sniffs* * is the epitomy of * *grabs ear twice* * why I do not * *sniffs* * like YouTubers, Twitter users and *S O O N A N D S O O N*

[jonathaneby]

I'm American and I also find the comparison of poor people to insects disturbing.

[hheintze]

6:32 Zizek is right here, the united states has no premodern history. You are confusing the united states with the land the united states is built on. Saying that the indigenous history is a part of the united states is wrong, the united states exists in opposition to indigenous people's history: A history whcich indigneous peoples are no longer the masters of. It's the same reason many of our indigenous people hate the "native american" label, because it tries to further subsume indigenous people into the "American" cultural heritage that was imposed on them from without.

[edthoreum]

thank you!
1:43 lack of passion
2:00 getting involved & taking side
2:30 religion & terror
2:50 louis richardson-what terrorist want
3:10 pamela king -religion &ID
3:30primitive vs modernity
3:50 shereen razak, casting out
4: 50 extra legal violence, carl schmitt
5:05 liberation communist threat to liberation
7:00the poor as insects

[scarletstarlet]

But does he write "and so on and so on and so on" on every page?

[Jake-knxg]

Please do the Sam Harris critique haha.

[pannekook]

slavoj is pronounced "slavoy" not "slavoge". this is super old but y'know

[Jiminy-do-]

I really appreciate how Abby has always demonstrated this ability to engage with all material critically, noting where she agrees and doesn't agree and why, as well as where certain ideas have been explored before.

Back when I was in college, I used to read philosophy thinking that if I didn't agree with part of a philosopher's work, it must meant that I just didn't "get it, " but Abby taught me that I can fully understand a philosopher's work, agree with parts of it and reject others. It's a very intellectually empowering thing, so thanks :)

[disciple]

I thought a world without sniffing in a slavoj zizek vid was impossible.

[willk]

i'm glad that all of the older videos have been left up- while I'm a big fan of Abigail's recent work over the last 2 years or so, i have very little of the more academic understanding of philosophy and these have helped me learn a bit more :) Zizek's Violence was on my bookshelf for later, so now i know a little bit of what to expect (and where to go for more!)

[lifeisbettergreen]

Seeing this in 2019 but it is still so good. I love the casual gestures to better, deeper works

[orenashkenazi]

I'm American, not British, but it's really hard for me to imagine describing people as insects as anything but abhorrent, especially referring to poor or marginalized people as "locusts." Like, what is the plague of locusts if not a calamity that destroys your civilization? How can it be okay to compare people to that?

[bilbobaggins]

I haven't read his books either, but I've watched videos of him speak. He's really prolific and sometimes he outright dismisses some of his books as "bad" or something he's not confident about. He said that he isn't confident writing about political philosophy and thinks others can discuss the topic better. I think he's much more into writing huge books about Kant and Hegel. You might like those type of books better.
I'm glad a character like he is popular abroad. Countries like Slovenia or other nations in the "new Europe" could really do with being noticed or perhaps seen as of intellectual value.

[prezdabeast]

i adore how so many of these observations are "this point was made a lot clearer by [woman], this point is well disputed by [woman], i recommend these books by [woman] and [woman], " it brings me back to doing my undergrad at a women's college and is giving me tons of additions to my reading list!

[saltoftheegg]

Wait... you’re telling me Bruce Wayne is Batman?!?!

If he would've looked a bit further east, Zizek could have disproved by himself the clash of civilization thesis. Culturally Romania's is as "uncivilized" (I don't think the civilized-uncivilized paradigm is useful or even correct, but for the sake of the argument) a country as it can be. By which I mean, we (sadly) reject many notions of social justice, progressiveness and are faced with increasing groups of religiously radicalized youths. There are constant talks of the decadent West. In school, our (strongly Eastern-Orthodox Christian) Religion professor used to praise the Islamic people for how pious and full of faith they are, noting especially how "the women cover themselves". On the other hand, politically, global capitalism and being subject to EU's norms and regulations asks of Romanians to accept and participate in what Zizek would call civilized behaviors and actions.

Yet there's no terrorism here. The idea that clashing cultures (as opposed to clashing political goals, military aggression and responses to it, want for power etc.) has anything to do with it is laughable.

[Skadiologist]

Saw this video in my recommendation and had never heard of it before so I clicked it and got jump scared by younger Abby