Žižek And So On

We are back this week with a Patreon exclusive episode on the concept of Interpassivity. We locate the origin of the term somewhere in-between the thought of Žižek’s and Robert Pfaller. Referring to texts of each, we  define interpassivity within the scope of Althussier’s influence in the 90s, as the immanent response/critique to the prevailing ideology of “interactivity”. We discuss a few infamous examples of interpassivity from Žižek’s texts like “canned laughter” and “TiVo”, and consider how interpassivity structures the subject’s relating to the Other as the subject supposed to know, believe, and enjoy.  We also try to think through the constitutive role interpassivity plays in the subject/object relation, and how this might furnish an anti-ideological position – or, a secondary ideology that does not rest on becoming a subject, and liberates us from the injunction to “enjoy!”   

N.B. This episode marks the anniversary of &SoOn. We want to thank all of you – and especially our patrons – for listening, supporting, and engaging with us this past year. The three of us agree that working on and producing the show has been the best and most redeeming part of an otherwise bizarre 12 months. We have already lined-up what will be some terrific interviews and collaborations over next few months, so we hope you stay tuned. Please like and share our episodes on whatever platform, and if you want to support us materially, you can subscribe to our Patreon. Stay safe out there, and enjoy your symptoms! 

https://www.patreon.com/zizekandsoon

https://www.lacan.com/zizek-pompidou.htm

https://www.robert-pfaller.com/20-years-of-interpassivity

Essential to Zizek's thinking on ideology is his denunciation of antisemitism. In this episode, &SoOn discusses how Lacan's 'pathologically jealous husband' is a key to understanding the true evil of antisemitism. 

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In our conversation with Todd McGowan we discuss his 2016 book Capitalism and Desire. Todd brings us through what he argues is the essential role of desire in capitalism—not as something which is repressed by the system, as many have argued, but rather how capitalism perpetuates itself through the very structure of desire. Without coming to terms with this, he says, any attempt to formulate a new system, or find the exit from capitalism, plays into the terms capitalism lays out in the form of “the promise.”

Get the book here.

Check out Todd McGowan’s podcast Why Theory, and his youtube channel.

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Patreon Preview - Zizek uses the combined example of the 'antisemetic figure of the Jew' and Lacan's 'pathologically jealous husband' in nearly every one of his books. In this episode we discuss why the example is useful for his work—and ask, along with Zizek, why the persistence of antisemitism through modernity? Further, what can antisemitism tell us about the structure of ideology (today)?

https://www.patreon.com/zizekandsoon

Today we discuss the parallax, one of the fundamental concepts of Žižek’s project. Parallax is “the apparent displacement of an object” wherein the observed difference is not simply relativized, but rather inscribed as a gap into the relation between subject and object. We find examples of the parallax view in the Coen brothers’ film Burn After Reading, and Coppola’s The Conversation; and consider Kant’s designation of phenomena and noumena as setting the framework through which to consider the parallax shift in Hegel’s notion of the subject. We also touch on Heidegger’s “ontological difference”, Lacan’s objet petit a as a parallax object, and the parallax as the very method by which these figures are read by Žižek.

The reading material for the episode can be found here: https://www.lacan.com/zizparallax.htm

And if you want to support us on patreon ($5 USD/month) and join the discord reading group, visit: https://www.patreon.com/zizekandsoon

A Coup d’etat? Unambiguously, NO. Terrorism? Let's think about why that term would be advantageous for the state to use. Insurrection? The right deed for the wrong reason.   

Patrons: “We love you. You’re very special”

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On the podcast this week we interview Agon Hamza, the author and editor of a number of books, including “Reading Marx'', co-written with Frank Ruda and Slavoj Žižek, and “Repeating Žižek”, in which he contributed “A Plea for Žižekian Politics”. We discuss the situation in Kosova, the EU—eurocentrism, and the remainder of the Balkans—the “problem” of Politics, the “borromean knot” of Žižek’s political theory, theory vs. practice, communism, and alienation.

https://www.patreon.com/zizekandsoon

Hamza and Ruda’s Interview with Albin Kurti: https://crisiscritique.org/2020/2020kurti.pdf

@Agonhamza

@zizekand

In this episode we take a second pass at Žižek’s new book “Hegel in a Wired Brain”, and further discuss the concept of the wired brain and its limitations. Other topics include poetry, Winston-Churchill-Heidegger, the status of Spirit and subject, the signification/meaning distinction, and how singularity can’t take a joke.

https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/hegel-in-a-wired-brain-9781350124417/

This week, we take a dive into Žižek's new book: Pandemic! 2: Chronicles of a Time Lost.

Thanks for joining us this year, everybody! See you in 2021—

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The boys are back with a discussion on a 2019 interview with Alenka Zupančič in Crisis and Critique. This piece brings us back to thinking through the importance of psychoanalysis for philosophy, and also opens the door to talking about the ontology of sexuality from the Lacano-Hegelian perspective.