The subject of liberation : Žižekek, politics, psychoanalysis / Charles Wells.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wells, Charles, 1978- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lacan, Jacques, 1901-1981.

Lacan, Jacques.

Žižek, Slavoj.

Political science--Philosophy--History--20th century.

Political science.

Postmodernism.

Psychoanalysis--Political aspects.

Psychoanalysis.

Radicalism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury Academic, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"The book shares Žižekek's central problem of how to revitalize the radical political left through theory. It initially follows the argument developed in The Ticklish Subject that contemporary leftist thought is divided by antagonism between a Marxist revolutionary politics founded on Enlightenment philosophy and a politics of identity founded on post-modern post-structuralism. How Žižekek used Lacan's theory of character structures is examined here to describe this theoretical deadlock and explain how the dominant contemporary ideologies of liberal tolerant multiculturalism and reactionary "pseudo-fundamentalism" compete to mobilize the individual subject's unconscious drive to enjoyment. The book thus emphasizes the moments in which Žižekek hints that Lacanian theory may describe a practice that facilitates the resolution of antagonisms that placate radical leftist politics. It challenges prevalent interpretations of Lacanian ends of analysis, to ultimately connect the psychoanalytic cure to the leftist project of social and political liberation. The Subject of Liberation argues that if Lacan is to be useful to leftist politics, then the left has to develop its own definitions of the post-analytic subject, and proposes one such definition developed out of Lacanian and Zizekian theory."--Bloomsbury Publishing.

Contents:

Dedication

Introduction: The Subject of Liberation

I: The problem. 1. How to Read the Ticklish Subject ; 2. Leftist Philosophy and Lacan's Theory of Character Structures

II: The subject, ideology, and psychoanalysis. 3. The Zizekian Universal Subject ; 4. Ideology: The Big Other, The Symbolic Mandate, and The Social Superego ; 5. Freedom and Responsibility: The Liberatory Promise of Lacanian Psychoanalysis

III: contemporary ideologies. 6. The Problem of Postmodernity: A Life of Pleasures ; 7. The Postmodern Social Superego: Reflexive Sadomasochism ; 8. The Unholy Conspiracy: Postmodern Ideology and (Pseudo-) Fundamentalism

IV: Going through the deadlock. 9. Antagonism in the Real ; 10. The Theory of the Four Fundamental Discourses ; 11. The Deadlock of Lacanian Ethics and the Analytic Moment

V: post-analytic subjects. 12. The Post-Analytic Subject 1: The Analyst ; 13. The Post-Analytic Subject 2: The Lover ; 14. Post-Analytic Philosophies VI: liberated societies ; 15. Liberated Societies 1: A Universal Right to Psychoanalysis and the Antagonistic Society ; 16. Liberated Societies 2: A Society of Analysts Conclusion: Go, Bid the Soldiers Shoot!

Bibliography

Notes.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-237) and index.

ISBN:

9781501317316

1501317318

9781501302312

1501302310

9781623569471

1623569478

OCLC:

1166369734