Podcasts about Slavoj

On the Overthinking It Podcast, we tackle Slavoj Žižek’s “The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology.” Episode 933: Sudafed is a Powerful Drug originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]

Is Donald Trump really a fascist - or has the word lost all meaning in modern political discourse? In the age of Trump, “fascism” has become one of the most explosive and contested terms in politics. Critics argue it's an accurate description of the former president's rhetoric and leadership style, while supporters see it as reckless hyperbole designed to demonize him. Renowned philosopher and psychoanalyst Slavoj Žižek joins Piers Morgan to discuss his new book, Liberal Fascism, and whether the label truly applies to Donald Trump - or whether something more complicated is happening beneath the surface of modern liberal politics. Later, Piers is joined by internet commentator Warren Smith, who offers a very different perspective on the debate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alright, welcome back to Žižek & So On, this week is the beginning of a NEW SERIES we're doing on the systematic aspects of Žižek's thought as we work through some of his foundational texts.The European Graduate School are running a Leading Thinkers Course on Slavoj Žižek and I know a lot of our listeners are attending the course which is exciting. Thanks to everyone who has reached out recently, we really appreciate it.For this first episode we're taking a look back at Žižek's first book in English, the Sublime Object of Ideology, and Frank Ruda's lecture on it . We're joined by Dim and Tim Bryar to work through it with us and we're talking ideology, the curious incident of the Laclau that didn't preface, the homology between Freud and Marx, and objective illusions.The course runs for ten weeks or so with Frank Ruda, Mladen Dolar, Adrian Johnston, Robert Pfaller, Zahi Zalloua, Dany Nobus, Alenka Zupančič, Berta Perez, and at the end Žižek…on…himself….so we're going to be doing these episodes alongside the course.Up next we have an episode on Zero Point, Zahi Zalloua, and Three Fragments on Suicide as a Political Factor!See you in Paris,Ž&…

In this episode, I continue my series on Slavoj Žižek's Quantum History: A New Materialist Philosophy, turning to Chapter 3, “Noncommutativity in the Symbolic and in the (Quantum) Real.”This chapter centers on a deceptively simple idea: the order matters. In quantum mechanics, psychoanalysis, history, politics, and even theology, the same elements can produce a very different reality depending on the sequence in which they appear. What comes first, what comes later, what gets observed, what gets named, and what gets repeated all shape the meaning of what is happening.I reflect on Žižek's use of quantum measurement, Freud's sequence of remembering, repeating, and working through, and the way later events can retroactively change the meaning of the past. This is not about saying that facts do not matter, or that everything is just interpretation. It is about taking seriously the strange way truth arrives in time.The episode continues the larger question of this series: what would it mean to have a materialism that is not flat or reductionistic, but strange enough to think collapse, contradiction, repetition, and the Real?

In this episode, I continue my series on Slavoj Žižek's Quantum History: A New Materialist Philosophy, turning to Chapter 2, “Why Quantum Mechanics Needs Hegel.”Building on the first episode's focus on Žižek's claim that collapse comes first, this chapter asks the question from the other direction: not only why a Hegelian might be drawn to quantum mechanics, but why quantum mechanics may need something like Hegel if we are going to think through its deeper philosophical consequences.I explore Žižek's attempt to avoid both a flat, common-sense realism and a vague spiritual reading of quantum physics. Instead of saying that consciousness creates reality, or that reality is simply sitting there fully formed before us, Žižek pushes us toward a stranger kind of materialism — one shaped by contradiction, observation, retroactivity, and the absence of any final God's-eye view.This episode reflects on the observer, the void, the impossibility of a complete perspective, and the idea that reality may not be held together by a final guarantee, but by the very gaps and collapses that prevent it from becoming a closed whole.

In this episode, I begin a new series on Slavoj Žižek's Quantum History: A New Materialist Philosophy, starting with the Introduction and Chapter 1, “Why a Hegelian Needs Quantum Mechanics.”This is not an attempt to turn quantum mechanics into a vague spiritual metaphor, and it is definitely not a physics lecture. Instead, I'm interested in what Žižek is trying to do philosophically: to rethink materialism after quantum mechanics, Hegel, psychoanalysis, and the strange collapse of our ordinary categories of reality.The central idea I explore here is Žižek's claim that collapse comes first. Rather than imagining reality as a stable field of possibilities that later collapses into one outcome, Žižek asks us to consider whether collapse retroactively gives shape to the field itself. From there, I reflect on Hegel, the observer, the Real, contradiction, history, and why a truly materialist philosophy may need to become much stranger than the older, flatter versions of materialism allowed.This first episode is meant to be careful and in-depth, but still digestible — a way of entering the book without reducing it, and of staying with the difficulty of Žižek's thought without turning it into jargon or easy summary.

Alexei Sayle and Talal Karkouti also discuss Camden, Lewes bonfire night and why dartboards are the new watermelon.Pre-order Alexei's book here.Come see The Alexei Sayle Podcast LIVE at The Roundhouse, Camden! Get tickets here.Get tickets to see Alexei interview Slavoj Žižek on 6th May here.Tickets to see The Alexei Sayle Podcast LIVE in Shoreham on 30th July here and at The Wellingborough Diggers Festival on 2nd May here!And, finally, get tickets to see Alexei in conversation at the Rik Mayall Festival in Droitwich Spa, 5th June here!Be a comrade and support the show! Become a Patron and get access to the video version of the podcast, live episodes and more - patreon.com/AlexeiSaylePodcastSend your fan art, thoughts and questions to alexeisaylepodcast@gmail.comPlease consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to Alexei's YouTube channel here and join him for his Bike Rides.The Alexei Sayle Podcast is produced and edited by Talal KarkoutiMusic by Tarboosh RecordsPhotograph from the Andy Hollingworth Archive  

Does the past even exist anymore?Quantum mechanics has long unsettled our understanding of matter and measurement. But what if its implications reach further — into history, politics, and the very structure of reality itself? If the present can retroactively reshape the past it emerged from, what does that mean for how we act, how we remember, and how we govern?These are not merely theoretical puzzles. In a world where liberal democracy appears to be fracturing, where AI and climate change defy traditional political categories, and where new authoritarian currents are emerging from thinkers like Curtis Yarvin in the West and Wang Huning in the East, the question of whether reality offers any coherent ground for political action has never felt more urgent.Few thinkers are willing to hold all of this together at once — to move from Niels Bohr to Stalinism, from Lacanian psychoanalysis to the collapse of the political centre, without flinching. Slavoj Žižek does precisely that. In his new book Quantum History: A New Materialist Philosophy (Bloomsbury, 2025), Žižek argues that incompleteness is not a failure of knowledge but a feature of existence itself — and that this demands an entirely new way of thinking about history and politics.Slavoj Žižek is a Hegelian philosopher, Lacanian psychoanalyst, and one of the most provocative intellectuals of our time. Hosted by Omari Edwards.Read the full transcript of this conversation at IAI News: https://iai.tv/articles/slavoj-zizek-on-quantum-history-and-the-end-of-the-past-auid-3437Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode!To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alexei and Talal Karkouti also yam on about cars, Peter Crouch and Radio 4.Here come some links:Pre-order Alexei's book here.Get tickets to see Alexei interview Slavoj Žižek on 6th May here.Tickets to see The Alexei Sayle Podcast LIVE in Shoreham on 30th July here and at The Wellingborough Diggers Festival on 2nd May here!And, finally, get tickets to see Alexei in conversation at the Rik Mayall Festival in Droitwich Spa, 5th June here!Phew!Be a comrade and support the show! Become a Patron and get access to the video version of the podcast, live episodes and more - patreon.com/AlexeiSaylePodcastSend your fan art, thoughts and questions to alexeisaylepodcast@gmail.comPlease consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to Alexei's YouTube channel here and join him for his Bike Rides.The Alexei Sayle Podcast is produced and edited by Talal KarkoutiMusic by Tarboosh RecordsPhotograph from the Andy Hollingworth Archive  

Empezamos este episodio de La Paella Rusa con uno de nuestros temas favoritos: la corrupción. ¡Bieeeen! ¡Ilusión! ¡Purpurina! En este caso, la alcaldesa de València, María José Catalá, y otros cargos públicos están siendo investigados por supuestos delitos de prevaricación y tráfico de influencias. ¿Saldrán escándalos emocionantes del asunto o será la corrupción prosaica de siempre? También nos asomamos al pulsito entre Donald Trump y… el Papa León XIV, la dupla de fantasía celestial que no sabíamos que necesitamos. Además, hacemos y resultado de los comicios en Hungría (otro de esos temas de los que somos expertos, en efecto), nos preguntamos qué escenario se despliega ahora tras la derrota de Orbán y qué efectos puede tener en Europa. ¡Ah, y también aparece por aquí Santiago Segura! Por supuesto, tenemos una nueva entrega de nuestra sección Psoeizados. En este caso, hablamos de cómo Pedro Sánchez tiene encandilado a Slavoj Žižek. Efectivamente, el filósofo esloveno ha sido psoeizado. Nadie puede resistirse a los hechizos del perro. Turno para nuestra recomendación cultural. Esta semana os proponemos leer Se acabó el recreo, de Dario Ferrari. ¡Dentro sinopsis! “Marcello es un treintañero con vocación de eterno adolescente. Sin un objetivo concreto en la vida, su única certeza es que no quiere acabar al frente del bar familiar. Por puro espíritu de contradicción, solicita una generosa beca para un doctorado en literatura e, inesperadamente, se la conceden. Su tutor, el venerado Sacrosanti, «el Mourinho de la literatura italiana», le encarga que investigue sobre un tal Tito Sella, un joven escritor-terrorista prácticamente desconocido que murió en la cárcel. Mientras el análisis de la vida y la obra de Sella le lleva por lugares insospechados, Marcello deberá aprender a nadar en las procelosas aguas del mundo académico, esquivando intrigas palaciegas y luchas de poder, para intentar convertirse en un estudioso respetable. A medio camino entre la novela de campus, la novela de formación y la comedia, esta historia sobre dos jóvenes insatisfechos, muy diferentes y sin embargo con bastantes paralelismos, es una de las novelas italianas más importantes y premiadas de la última década”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alexei Sayle and Talal Karkouti also discuss Israel's ongoing onslaught in Lebanon, late-stage capitalism, whether the moon matters and if running a red light is a moral issue. Here come the links:Pre-order Alexei's book here.Get tickets to see Alexei interview Slavoj Žižek on 6th May here.Tickets to see The Alexei Sayle Podcast LIVE in Shoreham on 30th July here and at The Wellingborough Diggers Festival on 2nd May here!And, finally, get tickets to see Alexei in conversation at the Rik Mayall Festival in Droitwich Spa, 5th June here!Phew!Be a comrade and support the show! Become a Patron and get access to the video version of the podcast, live episodes and more - patreon.com/AlexeiSaylePodcastSend your fan art, thoughts and questions to alexeisaylepodcast@gmail.comPlease consider leaving us a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.Subscribe to Alexei's YouTube channel here and join him for his Bike Rides.The Alexei Sayle Podcast is produced and edited by Talal KarkoutiMusic by Tarboosh RecordsPhotograph from the Andy Hollingworth Archive  

Forced to leave her native Hungary by the 1956 suppression of the Hungarian Uprising, Ágota Kristóf took up residence in Switzerland and began writing in French. Most famous for her Notebook Trilogy – ‘A book through which I discovered what kind of person I really want to be' (Slavoj Žižek) – her short stories, now available for the first time in English as the Penguin Classic volume I Don't Care (tr. Chris Andrews), have been described by Max Porter as ‘pure genius'. In this episode, Canadian writer Camilla Grudova discusses Kristóf's work and place in the late modernist literary firmament with Jennifer Hodgson. More from the Bookshop: Discover our author of the month, book of the week and more: ⁠⁠https://lrb.me/bkshppod⁠⁠ From the LRB: Subscribe to the LRB: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/subsbkshppod⁠ Close Readings podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/crbkshppod⁠ LRB Audiobooks: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/audiobooksbkshppod⁠ Bags, binders and more at the LRB Store: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://lrb.me/storebkshppod⁠ Get in touch: podcasts@lrb.co.uk

The Gwartney Team discusses the relationship between parenting and politics, focusing on an analogy deployed by Slavoj Žižek.  Here's the question:  given that parents want to control at least some of their child's actions, is it better to require them to act in accordance with the parents demands, regardless of what the child wants, or is it better to cajole the child into wanting to do what the parent demands?Connections to forms of political organization illuminate the discussion, so join in!

In this new Book Talks episode, Mandolyn Wilson Rosen is back to help me review a new art book: Jack Whitten: Notes From the Woodshed, Edited by Katy Siegel for Hauser & Wirth. Equal parts profound, strident and hilarious, Jack Whitten's (1939-2018) 50 year studio log packs a wallop. And it's meaty at 581 pages, so we had lots to discuss! Stick around to hear some sage advice, inspiring tales of studio experimentation and even some positive affirmations from this incredible painter and sculptor.Links to shows, videos, articles mentioned:⁠"Jack Whitten: The Messenger" Exhibition at MOMA 2025⁠⁠"Jack Whitten: Ready-nows" Two Coats of Paint Blog⁠⁠⁠Xerox PARC Artist-in-Residence (PAIR) program⁠⁠⁠Jack Whitten – ‘The Political is in the Work' by TateShots⁠⁠Jack Whitten: An Artist's Life | Art21 "Extended Play"⁠⁠Uncovering Jack Whitten's mysterious abstractions | HOW TO SEE (MOMA)⁠Artists mentioned: Willlem DeKooning, Robert Blackburn, Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Barnett Newman, Franz Kline, Gerhard Richter, Richard Serra, Ron Gorchov, Sol Lewitt, Frank Stella, Caravaggio, Berrisford Boothe, Kerry Downey, Amy Sillman, Jake BerthotWhitten works mentioned: "The Messenger: For Art Blakey," "Homecoming: For Miles," "Black Monolith 2: Homage to Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man," "Head IV Lynching," Homage to Malcolm," "King's Wish (Martin Luther's Dream)," "King's Garden," The Slab Paintings, "Asa's Palace," Gray Paintings, Greek Alphabet Paintings, "Dead Reckoning I," "9-11-01," "Apps for Obama," "Nine Fire CDS: For the Fire Spitter (Jane Cortez)," "Zeitgeist Traps (For Michael Goldberg)," "Quantum Wall VIII for Arshile Gorky (My First Love in Painting)," "Crystal Palace: For Jeanne Siegel"Philosophers Jack loved: Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl, Taha Hussein (Egyptian, Arab Renaissance), Friedrich Nietzsche, Slavoj ŽižekOther artist logs: Day Book by Anne TruittThe Andy Warhol Diaries Edited by Pat HackettPhilip Guston: Collected Writings, Lectures and Conversations Edited by Clark Coolidge Agnes Martin: Painting, Writings, Remembrances Edited by Arne GlimcherWhere to get the book:Hauser & Wirth , Abe Books, Thrift Books, Ebay, AmazonPlease find Mandolyn Wilson Rosen online here: ⁠⁠mandolynwilsonrosen.com⁠⁠ and IG ⁠⁠@mandolyn_rosen⁠⁠Thank you, Mandy! Thank you, Peps Listeners!All music by Soundstripe----------------------------Pep Talks on IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@peptalksforartists⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pep Talks Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.peptalksforartists.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amy, your beloved host, on IG: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@talluts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Amy's website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.amytalluto.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pep Talks on Art Spiel as written essays: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://tinyurl.com/7k82vd8s⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BuyMeACoffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Donations always appreciated!

Slavoj Žižek memandang ideologi bukan sekadar kebohongan yang menipu kita, melainkan seperti kacamata yang tidak sadar kita gunakan untuk melihat dunia. Kita sering merasa sudah bebas dari doktrin, padahal perilaku kita sehari-hari—seperti berbelanja atau berdonasi secara pasif—justru memperkuat sistem yang kita kritik. Inilah yang disebutnya sebagai interpassivity, di mana kita merasa seolah-olah sudah berbuat sesuatu agar kenyataan yang sebenarnya tidak perlu berubah secara mendasar. Inti dari pemikiran Žižek adalah keberanian untuk menghadapi apa yang ia sebut sebagai the Real, yakni retakan atau kegagalan dalam sistem yang sering kali kita tutupi dengan fantasi indah. Perubahan sosial yang sejati tidak datang dari sekadar memperbaiki gejala, tetapi dari sebuah the Act atau "Tindakan" yang berani merombak aturan main secara total. Tindakan ini menuntut kita untuk berani menghadapi rasa tidak nyaman dan meninggalkan zona aman demi menciptakan struktur masyarakat yang benar-benar baru. Pada akhirnya, jalan menuju masa depan yang lebih baik menurut Žižek dimulai dengan keberanian untuk mengatakan "tidak" terhadap tekanan sistem yang memaksa kita untuk selalu sibuk tanpa arah. Melalui strategi subtractive politics, kita diajak untuk berhenti sejenak dan menolak berpartisipasi dalam sandiwara sosial yang semu. Dengan melakukan proses unlearning atau belajar melepaskan keterikatan pada cara hidup lama, kita dapat membuka ruang bagi kemungkinan-kemungkinan baru yang sebelumnya dianggap mustahil oleh sistem saat ini.

Lately I've been carrying a specific kind of dread. Watching the situation with Iran develop, and noticing how often God gets woven into the justification for violence — quietly, almost liturgically, until you can't tell where the political calculation ends and the sacred mission begins. That observation sent me back to Slavoj Žižek, and to an argument I find both uncomfortable and urgent: that it isn't the absence of God that makes everything permissible. It's the presence of God. Or more precisely, the certainty that you're acting in his name.In this episode I trace both sides of that paradox — including the challenge my stepson puts to me constantly, that without God there's no real ground for ethics at all. I spend time with Hegel, Paul Tillich, and Todd McGowan on the idea of a God who doesn't control history and therefore can't be invoked to sanction it. No clean resolution. Just a question I think we need to be asking right now.

I would prefer not to.Based on “Bartleby the Scrivener - A Story of Wall Street”, a short story by Herman Melville, Bartleby (1970) is the story of a young man at odds with the world in which he finds himself. He starts work as an audit clerk at an accountancy firm but within a few days begins to refuse to do any work, saying merely that he “would prefer not to”.Starring John McEnery in the title role and Paul Scofield as his extremely patient boss, the film is the only feature to be directed by Anthony Friedman.Stephen Armstrong, journalist at The Observer and freelance film critic joins us to talk about the film.In popular culture, Bartleby has become a symbol of passive resistance to corporate bureaucracy. Among many other things, Bartleby's famous line “I would prefer not to” has become a:Column in the economistSeveral T-shirtsA slogan used at Occupy Wall St and other protestsSocksThe official motto of philosopher Slavoj Žižek!In Herman Melville's original story, he mentions the names of two real life people - John C Colt & Samuel Adams. Little heard of today, they would have been extremely famous at the time due to a notorious murder which gripped the United States. We tell the story of this case in the first half.Read or listen to Stephen Armstrong's work at the Observer and find his books here. Stephen also produces an extremely Soho podcast called Strippers in the Attic.The director of Bartleby, Anthony Freidman, did not direct any other feature films and went back to academia.See the Bartleby locations thanks to our friends at ReelStreets.Buy the Blu-ray from Indicator Films.The New York Sun published this special edition all about the John C Colt / Samuel Adams case in January 1842.Most of the information about the Colt / Adams case came from two books by Andie Tucher and Harold Schechter.The Bartleby sound track, composed by Roger Webb, was released by Trunk Records on vinyl. It's also available on Spotify.Troy Taylor provided the voice of John C Colt. Check out his website, his podcast and his Museum of American Oddities on Facebook.Thank you for listening.Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more)We're now on YouTubeEmail us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.comWe'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW.And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful.Check out our spin-off series Mural MorselsIn fact, see all relevant links HERE

Brad and Paul discuss the work of William Desmond and approach it through his engagement with Hegel, his reading of Flannery O'Connor, and his opposition to the dark reading of Slavoj Žižek. (Sign up for “Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled: Perspectives on Peace”: This class, with Ethan Vander Leek, examines “peace” from various perspectives: Biblical, theological, philosophical, and inter-religious. Go to https://pbi.forgingploughshares.org/offerings.) If you enjoyed this podcast, please consider donating to support our work. Become a Patron!

With the return of Glasgow Film Festival, we review a quartet of films from the programme. Listen in for our thoughts on Gus van Sant's 70s crime thriller, Mark Jenkin's existential fishing boat time-hopper, Pauline Loquès' small but well-formed debut drama, and Jim Jarmusch's award-winning ‘parents eh what are they like' anthology. As a little treat, Anahit slags off "Wuthering Heights", also we get interrupted by some building work in the office and we all become very cold to the point that Peter gets the sniffles at one stage. We're talking the full Slavoj Žižek, but we think we caught them all in the edit…  TIMESTAMPS: "Wuthering Heights" review (1:50) Dead Man's Wire review (10:00) Rose of Nevada review (21:00)  Nino review (32:20) Father Mother Sister Brother review (45:00) If you like The Cineskinny, tell your pals! Leave us a five-star review! Share the episode on socials! Follow us on Instagram @thecineskinny, email us at cineskinny@theskinny.co.uk Music: Too Cool by Kevin MacLeod  (https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4534-too-cool) License: https://filmmusic.io/standard-

Alright, today's episode is part of our SERIES on Žižek's Quantum History and we're taking a look at superpositions and enlightened doomsaying.How does Žižek's work on Quantum Physics relate to his political work? Was Žižek just "wrong" about the pandemic? At the level of factual truth, maybe. What is Enlightened Doomsaying? To prevent the end, do we have to act as if it has already happened? Does the collapse of the wave function come first? Is history just a "premiere" that retroactively creates its own rehearsals? Why do we fail to prevent catastrophes we already know are coming? We're discussing War Communism, the Doomsday Clock, and why "knowing" isn't the same as "believing" through the work of Slavoj Žižek, Agon Hamza, Alenka Zupančič, and Jean-Pierre Dupuy, where subjective truth often requires the form of factual untruth.Short sessions, variable length sessions, however you wanna put it, in these episodes we'll wrap them up because of something that is said, rather than the tyranny of the clock.Up next we're continuing the series...with some special guests!See you in Paris, Ž&...

The self and the world We tend to think of ourselves as observers of the world and experience as something different from the material stuff that makes up reality. Yet at the same time as human beings, we are at once part of the universe and part of that reality. And this profoundly puzzling relationship, that we are both part of something and yet separate from it, has been at the centre of Western thought. Materialists claim there is only physical material. But if so, thought, experience, and consciousness become illusory. Idealists argue there is only consciousness, but then it is reality that becomes an illusion. While dualists hold that both the self and the world exist, but that the connection between the two is mysterious. Is the self part of the world or necessarily outside of it? Was Kant right that the distinction between subject and object is necessary for experience to be possible? Or are these deep metaphysical questions beyond us, and our theories and language incapable of uncovering the ultimate state of things?Slavoj Žižek is one of the most famous philosophers in the world and is the author of more than 50 books, including most recently at the time of the debate Zero Point. Alenka Zupančič is a leading Lacanian philosopher and social theorist. She is a professor at The European Graduate School and at the University of Nova Gorica. Joining from America, Carlo Rovelli is a leading theoretical physicist, the author of several best-selling books, and a founding figure in the field of quantum gravity. His recent book, Reality Is Not What It Seems, has ethical implications for the nature of the self and personal identity. Jack Symes hosts. Email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts on the episode! To witness such topics discussed live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

More and more men are showing up in therapy convinced that desire is a technical problem—something that can be solved through optimization, symmetry, and self-correction. Jawlines, ratios, bodies, images. Looksmaxxing promises certainty, control, and relief from rejection, but what it actually delivers is anxiety, perfectionism, and a dead end.In this episode, I bring together several threads that have been colliding for me lately: re-watching Mad Men, clinical conversations with men struggling under the pressure to optimize themselves, and Jacques Lacan's unsettling idea of objet petit a—the object-cause of desire that can never be perfected, possessed, or secured.Along the way, I draw on Slavoj Žižek's famous example of Cindy Crawford's mole, and on Jessica Paré's portrayal of Megan Draper, whose gap-toothed beauty in Mad Men illustrates a simple but uncomfortable truth: desire doesn't emerge from flawlessness, but from the excess, the gap, and the imperfection that refuses to be optimized away.This episode is a critique of looksmaxxing culture, perfectionism, and the fantasy that being desirable means becoming complete—and an invitation to think about desire as something far less controllable, far less marketable, and far more human.

SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK is back on the show to talk about his new book Quantum History: A New Materialist Philosophy. We're talking Quantum Variations, Superposition, Wave Collapse, Catastrophe, & So On.Thank you to everyone for supporting our project and keeping us going. The series on Quantum History will continue with some more interviews and episodes with some great guests who have been working on all of these things and we're looking forward to it!After Ž our next guest is philosopher and friend of the show Agon Hamza to talk about history, Hegel, Freud, War, and the work of Slavoj Žižek.SUPPORT US ON PATREON!See you in Paris,Ž&…

Dans cet épisode solo, je parle partage avec vous un moment charnière de ma vie professionnelle et personnelle et qui va modifier Vlan! pour les semaines à venir.Je vous parle de mission. Pas d'un mot creux à la mode sur LinkedIn. Pas d'un slogan de communication. D'une mission intérieure, existentielle, que j'ai mis des années à clarifier. Une mission que j'ai longtemps cherchée, parfois à tâtons, souvent en me perdant. Mais aujourd'hui, je sais. Je veux vous redonner envie du futur.J'ai questionné ces dernières années de fragmentation, d'expérimentations, de tentatives parfois contradictoires : un podcast sur le leadership, une masterclass sur l'IA, un livre sur l'écologie… Tout me ressemble, mais rien n'avait de colonne vertébrale. Je me suis perdu à essayer d'être cohérent. Jusqu'à comprendre que la cohérence pouvait être un piège.Dans cet épisode, nous parlons de ces neuf polycrises qui façonnent notre époque : écologique, technologique, géopolitique, économique, sociale, politique, démographique, sanitaire… J'explore ces forces invisibles qui rendent le futur si difficile à imaginer, et encore plus à désirer.J'ai compris que le problème, ce n'est pas seulement l'ampleur des crises – c'est le brouillard. L'impossibilité de s'orienter. Le sentiment d'impuissance. L'angoisse de ne plus savoir quel rôle jouer. Et c'est là que j'ai décidé de me positionner clairement : je suis un prospectiviste. Mon rôle, c'est de décrypter, d'éclairer, d'anticiper. Pas pour faire peur. Pour réhabiliter notre pouvoir d'agir.Je vous parle aussi d'un concept essentiel : l'optimalisme. Ce n'est ni l'optimisme naïf, ni le fatalisme résigné. C'est une posture exigeante, ancrée dans le réel, qui refuse la paralysie. C'est la conviction que même au cœur du chaos, on peut encore choisir sa manière d'être au monde.Et puis, j'ai voulu partager une autre boussole : la joie rebelle. Pas la joie fake des good vibes marketées. Une joie lucide, incarnée, indisciplinée. Une joie comme acte de résistance. Une joie comme réponse politique à un système qui prospère sur nos passions tristes.Vlan! devient un média de prospective vivant. Chaque épisode explorera une force invisible qui façonne le futur. Je vais continuer à recevoir des chercheurs, des penseurs, des activistes. Mais cette fois, avec une intention claire : comprendre pour mieux agir, ensemble.Ce que je propose, ce n'est pas un nouveau format. C'est une direction. Une mission. Une manière de se tenir debout dans le monde, malgré tout. Une invitation à naviguer ensemble dans la complexité. À cultiver le sens, même sous la contradiction.Si vous êtes fatigués des illusions, si vous refusez la résignation, si vous cherchez à comprendre plutôt qu'à vous rassurer, alors bienvenue. Cet épisode est pour vous. Et cette mission, elle est aussi la vôtre.Citations marquantes« Je veux vous redonner envie du futur. Voilà. C'est dit. »« Le désespoir naît de l'incompréhension. »« Cultiver la joie dans un monde qui nous vend de la tristesse, c'est déjà un acte politique. »« Je vais cesser d'essayer d'être cohérent. Je vais maintenir du sens sous la contradiction. »« L'optimalisme, c'est refuser de chercher seul dans son coin. »Idées centrales discutéesRedonner envie du futur➤ J'identifie ma mission comme une réponse existentielle et politique à la perte de sens contemporaine.Les 9 polycrises systémiques➤ Je décris neuf crises majeures qui s'entrecroisent et façonnent notre époque.La fin de la méritocratie, l'avènement de l'héritocratie➤ Une explication limpide d'une nouvelle injustice silencieuse.L'optimalisme comme posture de vie➤ Inspiré de Tal Ben-Shahar, ce concept permet d'agir dans la lucidité sans céder au cynisme.Maintenir du sens sous la contradiction➤ Une capacité essentielle du XXIe siècle pour ne pas s'effondrer intérieurement.La joie rebelle comme discipline➤ Résister à l'impuissance et aux passions tristes par la joie consciente.Vlan! devient un média de prospective➤ Je donne une nouvelle orientation à Vlan! pour en faire un outil de compréhension et d'anticipation.Références citées dans l'épisodeLivres & auteursViktor Frankl – Man's Search for Meaning (~35 min)Tal Ben-Shahar – Concept d'optimalisme (~32 min)René Char – Allégresse consentante (~55 min)Albert Camus – Le mythe de Sisyphe (~56 min)Slavoj Žižek – Philosophie de la contradiction (~48 min)PersonnalitésDr. Eliza Filby – Concept d'héritocratie (~25 min)Timestamps clés00:00 – Pourquoi je vous parle seul aujourd'hui ?➤ Un moment de vérité : je révèle ma mission.06:00 – Avez-vous encore envie du futur ?➤ Une question simple, mais fondamentale.10:00 – Les 9 polycrises que nous traversons➤ Climat, IA, géopolitique, économie… tout est lié.25:00 – L'héritocratie : la nouvelle injustice silencieuse➤ Le rêve méritocratique s'effondre.32:00 – L'optimalisme : entre espoir et lucidité➤ Ma réponse philosophique et stratégique.45:00 – Maintenir du sens dans la contradiction➤ La compétence clé du XXIe siècle.52:00 – La joie rebelle : une discipline politique➤ Résister aux passions tristes.60:00 – Ce que ça change concrètement pour Vlan!➤ Nouvelle ligne éditoriale, formats à venir, appel aux auditeurs.Hébergé par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

Slavoj Žižek, Friedrich Nietzsche, Kehinde Andrews – the world has never been short of bad philosophers. But of all the minds who have graced, tortured, or otherwise afflicted human history, which one truly deserves the title: The World's Worst Philosopher? That's not an easy question; after all, philosophy has given us so many options. When Dan Dennett denied consciousness, was that the silliest claim ever made? What should we think when once sensible people – Philip Goff – convert to Christianity? Is Robert Wright, in fact, Robert Wrong? Is it the wartime quartet, or the woke-time bore-tet? Did Bentham really support bestiality? And why did David Papineau say that thing about women? Philosophers are supposed to be seekers of truth: lofty creatures aiming at wisdom, clarity, and the betterment of humanity. But philosophers are just people, shaped by forces that lead them astray. Sometimes they miss truth entirely; sometimes they stumble into it through terrible reasoning; and sometimes they make the world a genuinely worse place. Which brings us to the task at hand: trying to rank the worst philosopher in history. It's no easy feat. In fact, it's going to require the combined efforts of three of philosophy's greatest minds: Jack Symes, Andrew Horton, and (me) Olly Marley. This episode may also mark the end of our professional careers. But if we're going down, we'll go down like Socrates: making an unnecessarily big deal out of something that, absolutely, could have been easily avoided.

Slavoj Žižek, Friedrich Nietzsche, Kehinde Andrews – the world has never been short of bad philosophers. But of all the minds who have graced, tortured, or otherwise afflicted human history, which one truly deserves the title: The World's Worst Philosopher? That's not an easy question; after all, philosophy has given us so many options. When Dan Dennett denied consciousness, was that the silliest claim ever made? What should we think when once sensible people – Philip Goff – convert to Christianity? Is Robert Wright, in fact, Robert Wrong? Is it the wartime quartet, or the woke-time bore-tet? Did Bentham really support bestiality? And why did David Papineau say that thing about women? Philosophers are supposed to be seekers of truth: lofty creatures aiming at wisdom, clarity, and the betterment of humanity. But philosophers are just people, shaped by forces that lead them astray. Sometimes they miss truth entirely; sometimes they stumble into it through terrible reasoning; and sometimes they make the world a genuinely worse place. Which brings us to the task at hand: trying to rank the worst philosopher in history. It's no easy feat. In fact, it's going to require the combined efforts of three of philosophy's greatest minds: Jack Symes, Andrew Horton, and (me) Olly Marley. This episode may also mark the end of our professional careers. But if we're going down, we'll go down like Socrates: making an unnecessarily big deal out of something that, absolutely, could have been easily avoided.

This episode of Let Us Be Idiots includes the following sections or segments. Starting with Matteo Pascale gives an opening monologue of ideas and issues that are loud in and on his mind. What follows is an audio clip and video meme, "Slavoj Žižek on eating p*ssy in Yugoslav army." Things get heated, hot and heavy when Matteo Pascale gives details, for this gag segment, where Matteo Pascale presents an audio montage of his cock reviews from OnlyFans, set to The Theme Music of Shaft (1973). The segment is followed by a rambling "Post (Shaft) Game". Lastly, the episode closes out with Justin Magallanes directed Dreamy Drive, and the 2025 First-Place Winner for Best American Comedy Sketch or Short Film at The Crooklyn Comedy Film Festival 2025***Outro Rap lyrics were written and performed by @jdange23 and the beat was produced by Matteo Pascale.***All other content can be found on the website:https://www.crooklyncomedy.com/Crooklyn Comedy and Let Us Be Idiots Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/user?u=66644629Social media links:Main Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatteoPascaleCrooklyn Comedy Twitter: https://twitter.com/CrooklynComedyMain Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/comedianmatteopascale/Crooklyn Comedy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crooklyncomedy/Let Us Be Idiots Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/letusbeidiots/Matteo Pascale's Website:https://www.crooklyncomedy.com/

Alright, welcome back to Žižek & So On, we're beginning our new series on Quantum Physics in the work of Slavoj Žižek and for this week we have a SHORT SESSION taking a look at some of the work leading up to Žižek's Quantum History.  What does it mean for history to progress if every forward movement leaves something broken behind? Can a crushed possibility haunt the present? How does retroactivity work when Žižek is talking about QUANTUM HISTORY, is everything up for grabs? Where are all the dead birds?Short sessions, variable length sessions, however you wanna put it, in these episodes we'll wrap them up because of something that is said, rather than the tyranny of the clock.Up next we're talking superpositions…with some special guests!See you in Paris,Ž&...

Visit our sponsor, Wealthfront!: wealthfront.com/robinsonSlavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy. This is Slavoj's fifth appearance on the show. On episode 109, he and Robinson discussed wokeness and psychoanalysis. On episode 118, he, Sean Carroll, and Robinson discussed quantum physics, the multiverse, and time travel. And on episode 206 he, Lee Smolin, and Robinson discussed quantum physics. In episode 212, Robinson and Slavoj talk about ancient philosophy, god, communism, quantum mechanics, and psychoanalysis. In this episode, they discuss current political events, marxism, quantum mechanics, and artificial intelligence. Slavoj's upcoming book is Quantum History: A New Materialist Philosophy (Bloomsbury, 2025).Quantum History: https://a.co/d/7WFcAGiVisit our sponsor, Wealthfront!: wealthfront.com/robinsonPromo terms & conditions apply. See our affiliated link for more details.Robinson Erhardt is a Wealthfront client and was compensated for the testimonial and promotion of the Wealthfront Cash Account. This compensation creates a conflict of interest. Experiences may vary among Cash Account clients, and results are not guaranteed. The Cash Account, which is not a deposit account, is offered by Wealthfront Brokerage LLC ("Wealthfront Brokerage"), Member FINRA/SIPC. Wealthfront Brokerage is not a bank. The Annual Percentage Yield ("APY") on cash deposits as of September 26, 2025, is representative, requires no minimum, and may change at any time. The APY reflects the weighted average of deposit balances at participating Program Banks, which are not allocated equally. Wealthfront Brokerage sweeps cash balances to Program Banks, where they earn the variable APY.If you are eligible for the overall boosted rate of 4.25% offered in connection with this promo, your boosted rate is also subject to change if the base rate decreases during the three-month promotional period.OUTLINE00:00 Introduction01:07 Marxism and Quantum Mechanics07:34 Why We Aren't Pessimistic Enough16:29 The Wisdom of the First Philosopher29:27 The Assassination of Charlie Kirk38:10 On Curtis Yarvin49:23 The Naivety of Pete Hegseth51:06 The Contradiction in American Fascism57:43 Could a Coup Overthrow Trump?01:04:17 The Utter Shamelessness of Today's Society01:14:15 The Danger of the Disappearing Left01:18:06 AI Is a Tool of Authoritarian SuppressionRobinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University, where he is also a JD candidate in the Law School.

Slavoj Žižek is back in a new interview where he takes us through his thoughts on the role of philosophy, the future of sex, his fear and love of AI and, as always, so much more. Tune in to hear one of contemporary philosophy's most original and darkly comedic minds expose his thoughts on the present and where we are heading - though that is impossible to know. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alright, this week is PART ONE of our conversation with returning guest and friend of the show MATTHEW FLISFEDER author of Algorithmic Desire  toward a New Structuralist Theory of Social Media. and his latest book The Hysterical Sublime: Humanism in the Age of Post-Human Capitalism. Matt is professor of Rhetoric & Communications at the University of Winnipeg and in this episode we're talking about Slavoj Žižek's Eurocentrism, concrete universality in his work, why universality appears from the split within the particular, Žižek's holographic history (choices-not-chosen and the fantasies they generate), super-anthropocentrism and dialectical humanism, Althusser's theoretical anti-humanism vs. practical humanism, degrowth vs. building the infrastructures we actually need, and how geoengineering fixes demand global coordination with real legal form and so on and so on.Stay tuned for PART TWO out next!See you in Paris,Ž&…

n a novel pairing of anti-colonial theorist Frantz Fanon with Marxist-Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Zahi Zalloua explores the ways both thinkers expose the violence of political structures.This inventive exploration advances an anti-racist critique, describing how ontology operates in a racial matrix to produce some human bodies that count and others (deemed not-quite- or non-human) that do not. For Fanon and Žižek, the violence of ontology must be met with another form of violence, a revolutionary violence that delegitimizes the logic of the symbolic order and troubles its collective fantasies. Whereas Fanon begins his challenge to ontology by exposing its historical linkages to Europe's destructive imperialist procedures before proceeding to “stretch” Marxism, along with psychoanalysis, to account for the crushing (neo)colonial situation, Žižek premises his work on the refusal to accept the totality of ontology. Because of these different points of intervention, Fanon and Žižek together offer a powerful and multifaceted assessment of the liberal anti-racist paradigm whose propensity for identity politics and aversion to class struggle silence the cry of the dispossessed and foreclose radical change. Avoiding contemporary separatist temptations (decoloniality and Afropessimism), and breaking with a non-violent, sentimentalist futurology that announces more of the same, Fanon and Žižek point in a different direction, one that eschews identitarian thought in favor of a collective struggle for freedom and equality. Zahi Zalloua is Cushing Eells Professor of Philosophy and Literature and a Professor of Indigeneity, Race, and Ethnicity Studies at Whitman College Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

n a novel pairing of anti-colonial theorist Frantz Fanon with Marxist-Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Zahi Zalloua explores the ways both thinkers expose the violence of political structures.This inventive exploration advances an anti-racist critique, describing how ontology operates in a racial matrix to produce some human bodies that count and others (deemed not-quite- or non-human) that do not. For Fanon and Žižek, the violence of ontology must be met with another form of violence, a revolutionary violence that delegitimizes the logic of the symbolic order and troubles its collective fantasies. Whereas Fanon begins his challenge to ontology by exposing its historical linkages to Europe's destructive imperialist procedures before proceeding to “stretch” Marxism, along with psychoanalysis, to account for the crushing (neo)colonial situation, Žižek premises his work on the refusal to accept the totality of ontology. Because of these different points of intervention, Fanon and Žižek together offer a powerful and multifaceted assessment of the liberal anti-racist paradigm whose propensity for identity politics and aversion to class struggle silence the cry of the dispossessed and foreclose radical change. Avoiding contemporary separatist temptations (decoloniality and Afropessimism), and breaking with a non-violent, sentimentalist futurology that announces more of the same, Fanon and Žižek point in a different direction, one that eschews identitarian thought in favor of a collective struggle for freedom and equality. Zahi Zalloua is Cushing Eells Professor of Philosophy and Literature and a Professor of Indigeneity, Race, and Ethnicity Studies at Whitman College Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/critical-theory

n a novel pairing of anti-colonial theorist Frantz Fanon with Marxist-Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Zahi Zalloua explores the ways both thinkers expose the violence of political structures.This inventive exploration advances an anti-racist critique, describing how ontology operates in a racial matrix to produce some human bodies that count and others (deemed not-quite- or non-human) that do not. For Fanon and Žižek, the violence of ontology must be met with another form of violence, a revolutionary violence that delegitimizes the logic of the symbolic order and troubles its collective fantasies. Whereas Fanon begins his challenge to ontology by exposing its historical linkages to Europe's destructive imperialist procedures before proceeding to “stretch” Marxism, along with psychoanalysis, to account for the crushing (neo)colonial situation, Žižek premises his work on the refusal to accept the totality of ontology. Because of these different points of intervention, Fanon and Žižek together offer a powerful and multifaceted assessment of the liberal anti-racist paradigm whose propensity for identity politics and aversion to class struggle silence the cry of the dispossessed and foreclose radical change. Avoiding contemporary separatist temptations (decoloniality and Afropessimism), and breaking with a non-violent, sentimentalist futurology that announces more of the same, Fanon and Žižek point in a different direction, one that eschews identitarian thought in favor of a collective struggle for freedom and equality. Zahi Zalloua is Cushing Eells Professor of Philosophy and Literature and a Professor of Indigeneity, Race, and Ethnicity Studies at Whitman College Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/intellectual-history

n a novel pairing of anti-colonial theorist Frantz Fanon with Marxist-Lacanian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, Zahi Zalloua explores the ways both thinkers expose the violence of political structures.This inventive exploration advances an anti-racist critique, describing how ontology operates in a racial matrix to produce some human bodies that count and others (deemed not-quite- or non-human) that do not. For Fanon and Žižek, the violence of ontology must be met with another form of violence, a revolutionary violence that delegitimizes the logic of the symbolic order and troubles its collective fantasies. Whereas Fanon begins his challenge to ontology by exposing its historical linkages to Europe's destructive imperialist procedures before proceeding to “stretch” Marxism, along with psychoanalysis, to account for the crushing (neo)colonial situation, Žižek premises his work on the refusal to accept the totality of ontology. Because of these different points of intervention, Fanon and Žižek together offer a powerful and multifaceted assessment of the liberal anti-racist paradigm whose propensity for identity politics and aversion to class struggle silence the cry of the dispossessed and foreclose radical change. Avoiding contemporary separatist temptations (decoloniality and Afropessimism), and breaking with a non-violent, sentimentalist futurology that announces more of the same, Fanon and Žižek point in a different direction, one that eschews identitarian thought in favor of a collective struggle for freedom and equality. Zahi Zalloua is Cushing Eells Professor of Philosophy and Literature and a Professor of Indigeneity, Race, and Ethnicity Studies at Whitman College Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/a48266/videos Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/politics-and-polemics

We are happy to announce the next issue of New Polity Magazine, dedicated specifically to Artificial Intelligence! Featuring essays by Matthew Crawford, Slavoj Žižek, D. C. Schindler, Michael Hanby, Andrew Willard Jones, and many more. Subscribe by October 1st to receive this issue! https://newpolity.com/magazine. Alex Denley and Marc Barnes discuss the Christian response to AI, how to safeguard human freedom, and AI as a new industrial revolution.

Subscribe to get access to the full episode, the episode reading list, and all premium episodes! www.patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappinessAbby, Dan, and Patrick conclude their viewing of Sophie Fiennes' and Slavoj Žižek's A Pervert's Guide to Cinema (2006). It's the last stretch of the film, the part where Žižek tries to bring everything together, and it thus gives Abby, Dan, and Patrick a chance to assess the Guide in its entirety. How compelling is the film's grand unifying theory of subjectivity, lack, and the work of film as a medium that teaches us “how to desire”? What does it mean that all films are ultimately, per Žižek, about the “impossibility of making a film” as such? What's at stake in for Žižek in the film of Hitchcock and Lynch specifically, and why do the films so neatly showcase the perils of both getting exactly what you want and not knowing what you want after all? What are Žižek's blind spots vis-à-vis gender, violence, and comedy? And what's really going on with that favorite adverb of his – “precisely”?Have you noticed that Freud is back? Got questions about psychoanalysis? Or maybe you've traversed the fantasy and lived to tell the tale? Leave us a voicemail! (646) 450-0847  A podcast about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and the ways we suffer now. New episodes on Saturdays. Follow us on social media:  Linktree: https://linktr.ee/OrdinaryUnhappiness Twitter: @UnhappinessPod Instagram: @OrdinaryUnhappiness Patreon: patreon.com/OrdinaryUnhappiness Theme song: Formal Chicken - Gnossienne No. 1 https://open.spotify.com/album/2MIIYnbyLqriV3vrpUTxxO Provided by Fruits Music

This week, we once again turn to one of Tillich Today's favorite contemporary philosophers, Slavoj Žižek, to talk about the complicated relationship between Lacanian psychoanalysis and gender identity. We also debate Žižek's recent work and discuss the complexities surrounding his attitudes towards trans rights, examining the strengths and limitations of using psychoanalysis to understand the politics of gender identity in modern contexts. If you're interested in hearing more about the experience of being trans from an actual trans person or you simply fancy a good conversation on Jacques Lacan and Slavoj Žižek, this episode is for you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We just published the new issue of Crisis and Critique, which is devoted to the wok of Slavoj Žižek. Today we are excited and honoured to have Slavoj Žižek himself for this “special edition” to mark the publication of the issue of the journal. The full issue is available at the link below: https://www.crisiscritique.org/ You can listen to our podcast here: https://anchor.fm/crisisandcritique  If you like this and other episodes, please consider subscribing and supporting us at our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=71723553 

⁠BUY THE ALBUM HERE! ⁠Alright, this week we're drinking the blood from Oedipus's eyes with returning guest and friend of the show, the great Russell Sbriglia to talk about his new album ⁠Critique of Pure Desire⁠ which, according to Ryan Engley, sounds like if King Crimson were throwing an Eyes Wide Shut party. The album is a psychedelic mix of philosophy, psychoanalysis, literature, and film through Slavoj Žižek, Lacan, Hegel, Hitchcock, Melville, Antigone, Hamlet, Poe, Blade Runner, Chopin, La Jetée…and even features guest vocals from Žižek himself.We're talking the critique of pure desire, the strange logic of retroactivity, failed interpellations, hysterics, the split within the law, and future histories…Russ is Associate Professor of English at Seton Hall, co-editor with Slavoj of Subject Lessons, editor of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Literature but Were Afraid to Ask Žižek, and the band Misconstruity.Big thanks to Russ — and if you're quick, the first two listeners to email zizekandsoon@gmail.com will get a copy of the album.And yes, Tim is still away…last I heard he reckoned that he's being followed by a chorus of old men who keep lamenting his decisions and spoiling the plot of his life…however I want to take this chance to say that Tim's first book has just been published with Palgrave: A Lacanian-Hegelian Perspective on Peace and Conflict Studies. It's now out in the world and you should all check it out. Congrats, Tim. Extra fish-head soup for you!⁠GET TIM'S BOOK HERE!⁠See you in Paris, Ž&…

Žižek: "Trump did what The Left couldn't"As we look around at the state of the modern world, it's very easy to get disheartened - and that's putting it lightly! From pointless wars and endless suffering to the decline of social bonds and trustworthy institutions, there really is a lot to get you down. Fortunately, maverick philosopher Slavoj Žižek is on the case, arguing that all is not lost - though we must act quickly.Slavoj Žižek is a world-renowned philosopher, cultural critic and public intellectual. Foreign Policy named Žižek a Top 100 Global Thinker "for giving voice to an era of absurdity”. Don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode!To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alright this week we're back and joined by Michael Downs to talk with longtime friend of the show Todd McGowan about his brand new book The Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Lacan.This is a book a lot of us have wanted for a long time!McGowan's book on Lacan demonstrates yet again how right Lacan was when he insisted that people who are not clinical analysts can also be full members of his school. It's not that we philosophers should learn from clinicians - clinicians can learn from us what they are doing. Finally, someone dared to state openly the obvious truth: like all anti-philosophers from Kant onwards, Lacan is also and foremost a philosopher! - Slavoj ŽižekIs Lacan a philosopher? Is Lacan a dialectical thinker?In PART ONE of the interview with Todd we're talking Lacan's turn to the nonrelation and the Borromean knot and how it marks a break from his dialectical thought, and why you should skip the Écrits entirely and read the seminars instead. We trace Lacan's philosophical project through Kant and Hegel, explore Lacan's theory of the subject, Žižek's quantum history, the Copenhagen interpretation, and Sean Carroll as a Deleuzean physicist.Support us on PATREON and get access to our Discord, interviews, extra episodes each month, and our SHORT SESSIONS series for $5/month.⁠⁠⁠PART TWO of the interview will be out next!See you in Paris,Ž&...

Alright this is a PATREON PREVIEW & this week we're back again with our series on Slavoj Žižek's Against Progress with PART TWO of the long-awaited conversation with theorist and friend of the show Michael Downs, author of the Dangerous Maybe Blog on Medium and his new book Capital Vs Timenergy: A Žižekian Critique of Nick Land to discuss Žižek's essay Accelerationism.LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODE HERE!We're talking Lacan's theory of language and the co-evolution of the brain and the Big Other, Žižek's dialectical method, the difference between Land's and Žižek's conceptions of the death drive, Cute Accelerationism and so on and so on. See you in Paris,Ž&...Also check out Pods Against Tomorrow hosted by Hugh Manon Professor of Screen Studies at Clark University and Abe Doubleday-Bush where they reinvestigate the noir genre one film at a time. I joined them the other day to discuss Joseph Losey and Dalton Trumbo's down-and-dirty 1951 cult noir, THE PROWLER. Which you can listen to...HERE!

In this special episode, Robinson and Karl Zheng Wang co-host at the Yale US-China Forum. Return guests from the show include Slavoj Žižek, Richard Wolff, and Yascha Mounk. Slavoj Žižek is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University, and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy. Richard Wolff is Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a visiting professor at The New School, where he works on economics in the Marxist tradition. Yascha Mounk is a Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins University. He is also a Contributing Editor at the Atlantic, a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and the host of The Good Fight podcast. Yannis Varoufakis is a Greek economist and politician, and current Secretary-General of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025. Robin Visser is Professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she researches modern Chinese and Sinophone literatures, urban cultural studies, and environmental studies. Pei Wang is Professor in the Chinese History and Culture Program at the University of Hong Kong, where she specializes in comparative philosophy, psychoanalysis, and more. Daniel Mattingly is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Yale University, where he studies the domestic and international politics of authoritarian regimes, with a focus on China.  OUTLINE00:00:00 Introduction00:01:46 The Future of Europe and China00:10:40 There Is No Such Thing as Trade Wars, They Are All Class Wars00:15:50 How Wall Street's Failures Fueled the Rise of Tech00:20:02 Why Is There a New Cold War Between the US and China?00:27:18 Why the United States Is Abandoning Democracy and Why China is Yannis Varoufakis's Only Hope00:29:26 Richard Wolff to Yannis Varoufakis: Are We Heading Toward Nuclear War with China?00:35:58 How Class WARFARE Shaped the World Superpowers CLIP00:41:01 Is China Capitalism's Final Form?00:52:03 Is There Any Way that China and the United Stated Could Avert Conflict?00:59:16 Varoufakis to Wolff: Is a Tariff Hail Mary Trump's Only Remaining Option?01:03:39 Daniel Mattingly on China's Sociopolitical Organization01:08:39 How Does Xi Jinping Talk About Socialism?01:13:47 Yascha Mounk on US-China Competition01:22:36 Philosophy, Socialism, and Capitalism01:48:40 Pei Wang on the Hero and Father in US-China Competition01:54:31 Hero and Father Archetypes in PoliticsRobinson's Website: http://robinsonerhardt.comRobinson Erhardt researches symbolic logic and the foundations of mathematics at Stanford University.

In the latest episode of Let Us Think About It, host Ryder Richards tackles the provocative and polarizing work of Ward Churchill, Pacifism as Pathology. Published in 1986 and later expanded, this essay challenges the sanctity of nonviolent activism, arguing that it not only fails to dismantle oppressive systems but actively reinforces the state's power. Churchill, a controversial scholar and activist known for his radical critiques of American imperialism and colonialism, wrote this piece out of frustration with the dominance of pacifist tactics in North American progressive movements during the 1980s—a time marked by Reagan's Cold War policies, military interventions, and rising economic inequality.Richards sets the stage with a vivid metaphor: a towering fortress representing the state's violent, coercive power, unshaken by protesters wielding candles and moral conviction. Churchill contends that pacifism is a pathological delusion, rooted in historical revisionism, moral contradictions, and a refusal to confront the state's inherent violence. The episode breaks down his critique into three key arguments:Pacifism as Delusion: Churchill likens pacifism to medieval alchemy—a futile attempt to transform oppressive systems through wishful thinking. He argues that pacifists naively believe their moral purity and symbolic acts (marches, vigils, sit-ins) can erode state power, ignoring its reliance on armed forces like police and military. This “sublime arrogance” limits transformative potential, allowing the state to thrive on empty gestures.Historical Revisionism: Churchill debunks pacifism's supposed victories by examining historical failures. He points to the Jewish communities in Nazi Germany, where pacifist strategies facilitated the Holocaust's efficiency, with no significant armed resistance. Similarly, he challenges the myth that the anti-Vietnam War movement's nonviolence ended the war, noting that Vietnamese armed resistance and internal U.S. military breakdowns were the true catalysts for change. These examples expose pacifism's practical shortcomings and reliance on cherry-picked narratives.Pacifism as Racist and Suicidal: Churchill argues that pacifism displaces state violence onto marginalized groups, particularly people of color, while white activists remain in a “comfort zone.” He calls this a racist paradox, where pacifists support armed struggles abroad (e.g., Vietnam's National Liberation Front) but demand nonviolence domestically. Furthermore, he labels pacifism suicidal, claiming it invites state violence by refusing self-defense, as seen in the Holocaust's tragic outcomes. This pathology, Churchill suggests, is akin to a dogmatic, quasi-religious belief system, resistant to logic or critique.Richards contextualizes Churchill's work within the 1980s progressive landscape, shaped by the legacies of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr., and highlights his perspective as an indigenous scholar critical of liberal dogmas. The episode acknowledges the discomfort of challenging widely held values like peace and nonviolence, encouraging listeners to absorb the critique before part two, which will explore Churchill's proposed solutions, incorporate current events, and draw on thinkers like Slavoj Žižek to broaden the discussion.This episode is a bold invitation to question assumptions about social change and confront the harsh realities of state power. Whether you agree or disagree with Churchill's radical stance, Richards' engaging analysis sparks critical reflection on the effectiveness of nonviolent activism in the face of systemic oppression. Stay tuned for the next installment, where the conversation will deepen with practical remedies and contemporary perspectives.

What can JD Vance's arguments with Pope Francis teach us about selfishness, altruism, and the morality of the modern world?Join the team at the IAI for four articles about egoism, self-sacrifice, and everything in between, analysing a range of subjects, including: Friedrich Nietzsche and his rivalry with former maestro Arthur Schopenhauer; the 10 Commandments and their relationship to jealousy; why God might be "stupid, indifferent, and evil"; and of course the aforementioned showdown between JD and the Pope.These articles were written by Slavoj Žižek, Steven D. Hales, Kristján Kristjánsson, and Guy Elgat.Slavoj Žižek is a Hegelian philosopher, a Lacanian psychoanalyst, and a Communist. He is the author of 'Christian Atheism: How to Be a Real Materialist'. Steven D. Hales is Professor of Philosophy at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, and author of 'The Myth of Luck: Philosophy, Fate and Fortune'. Kristján Kristjánsson is Professor of Character Education and Virtue Ethics at the University of Birmingham. His work spans topics in moral philosophy, moral psychology, and moral education. He is also the editor of the Journal of Moral Education. Guy Elgat is a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the author of 'Nietzsche's Psychology of Ressentiment' and 'Being Guilty: Freedom, Responsibility, and Conscience in German Philosophy from Kant to Heidegger'.And don't hesitate to email us at podcast@iai.tv with your thoughts or questions on the episode!To witness such debates live buy tickets for our upcoming festival: https://howthelightgetsin.org/festivals/And visit our website for many more articles, videos, and podcasts like this one: https://iai.tv/You can find everything we referenced here: https://linktr.ee/philosophyforourtimesSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alright this week we're continuing our series on Slavoj Žižek's Against Progress with another long-awaited conversation with theorist and friend of the show Michael Downs, author of the Dangerous Maybe Blog on Medium and his new book Capital Vs Timenergy: A Žižekian Critique of Nick Land to discuss Žižek's essay Accelerationism.Is Žižek an Accelerationist?In PART ONE of our conversation we're talking accelerationism and degrowth, all things Nick Land, cyber-positivity, forced choices, the zero point of modernity, and get into the CCRU, cute accelerationism, AI as metaphysical horror, the barred and unbarred Big Other, Providence, techno-Telos, face tentacles, vinyl records, and the Lacanian subject.⁠⁠Support us on PATREON and get access to our Discord, interviews, extra episodes each month, and our SHORT SESSIONS series for $5/month.⁠⁠See you in Paris,Ž&...

Alright, this week Tim is shopping for two birds that look alike and we're joined by friend of the podcast Jack Black whose latest book is The Psychosis of Race: A Lacanian Approach to Racism and Racialization and we're talking through Žižek's new book Against Progress. What becomes of squashed birds? We're talking Slavoj Žižek's work on quantum physics, collapsed wave functions, fetishistic splits, retroactive redemption, disavowal, Jack's mother's poetic swearing, and whether the only real option is one that starts again. And again. And again. Support us on PATREON for more episodes, interviews, SHORT SESSIONS and our DISCORD.Big thanks to Jack and as always… See you in Paris,Ž&...

Donald Trump has been ripping up the rule book on global trade, implementing huge tariffs and sending markets into a frenzy. But is there any method in his apparent madness? Legendary Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek regales Aaron with his thoughts on US trade policy – not to mention Franz Kafka, fully automated luxury communism and whether […]

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sits down with Alex O'Connor and Richard Dawkins to discuss their differences of view on the Abrahamic biblical texts, truth claims in science and fiction, the extension of memes through Jungian archetypes, and the memetical reality of dragons. This episode was filmed on September 30th, 2024 Richard Dawkins is a British evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator, and bestselling author of books such as “The Selfish Gene,” and “The Genetic Book of the Dead.” Alex O'Connor is a philosophy-oriented YouTuber, podcaster, and public speaker. He graduated in 2021 from St. John's College, Oxford University, with a BA in philosophy and theology. In 2023, he launched the “Within Reason” podcast, which has featured guests including Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Slavoj Žižek, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Rory Stewart, amongst others.  | Links | For Richard Dawkins: On X https://x.com/RichardDawkins?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor On YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@poetryofreality The Genetic Book of the Dead (New book) https://www.amazon.com/Genetic-Book-Dead-Darwinian-Reverie/dp/0300278098  For Alex O'Connor: On YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CosmicSkeptic On X https://x.com/CosmicSkeptic?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor