I’ve been wanting to interview the famous Slovenian philosopher for the last seven years and now I finally have. I discovered Slavoj Žižek’s work quite by accident when, wanting to check out Loren Singer’s novel The Parallax View from my local library I put Žižek’s book with the same title on hold instead. Looking back on this incident now, after having finally gotten the Continue Reading …
Humor and Infinite Responsibility: Can Levinas Use a Little Stand-Up Comedy?
Approaching a philosopher such as Emmanuel Levinas might seem intimidating, both because of his reputation for diving extremely deeply into the most fundamental questions of human existence, and for doing so in a style that is, perhaps adequately, quite heavy and impenetrable. In our latest episodes, Mark, Wes, and Seth took upon themselves the much-needed and difficult task of Continue Reading …
New in Not School: Niebuhr, Kant, Zizek, Lovecraft
Hey everyone, Nathan Hanks here with an update from the Partially Examined Life's Not School. Just sign up for PEL Citizenship and you'll be able to access all the group pages and weigh in on new proposals. You'll find other members in the Citizen's Forum with these new group proposals to join in October: The Irony of American History by Reinhold Niebuhr Critique of Pure Continue Reading …
Descartes’s Horror?
At Zero Books, we aim to be unconventional. We aim, as Tariq Goddard wrote in the founding manifesto, to be "intellectual without being academic," to be critically engaged and theoretical without being boring, and to resist the "blandly consensual culture in which we live," but it's always a challenge. At the beginning of the year, during my second month as publisher and Continue Reading …
July’s Not School Groups
If you're looking for some additional philosophical conversation this month, we have several Not School groups and at least one Aftershow already lined up. PEL Citizens can participate in any of these, and can also listen to tons of free audio from past groups and Aftershows. Becoming a Citizen is easy and affordable; take a look here to learn more. First up, the ep. 118 Continue Reading …
Not School In May: Levinas, Zizek, Heidegger, Murakami, Auslander
It looks like May will be another active month in Not School. We already have groups set to read Levinas, Heidegger, Murakami, Auslander, and the ever popular Zizek. Remember, PEL Citizens can propose groups on whatever philosophical content they’re interested in, set their own schedules, and choose how to communicate. If you haven't joined up yet, take a look at what you’re Continue Reading …
Not School Offerings In March
We have several Not School groups running this month, but before I tell you about them, a word to the unfamiliar: If you've enjoyed the podcast episodes, becoming a PEL Citizen is an easy and inexpensive way to get involved firsthand in similarly stimulating conversations. I can vouch that these study groups are rewarding, relaxed, and very helpful in getting a grip on Continue Reading …
Not School in January
Have you resolved to become a PEL Citizen in 2015? What's this, you ask? It's an easy and affordable way to get access to all kinds of bonus content on the site. Plus, you get the chance to do some first hand philosophizing in one of our Not School study groups. We have two groups running this month so far, and you can still propose a new one if you hurry. Come join up! Our Continue Reading …
Not School Group Proposal: Zizek!
For March I'm proposing a Not School reading group on Zizek. The group will read a 25-page transcript of a talk he gave at the International Journal of Zizek Studies 2012 conference. It is, I think, a very nice summary of some of his key philosophical positions and where his current theoretical interests lie. The added advantage of this reading is that a recording of Zizek Continue Reading …
Not School Digest #4: Sartre, Heidegger, Zizek, Marx, and Theater
Excerpts from PEL podcaster & listener discussions on Sartre's Nausea, Heidegger's "The Question Concerning Technology," Slavoj Zizek's Year of Dreaming Dangerously, Marx and Engels's "Communist Manifesto," Peter Schaffer's play Equus, and Cormac McCarthy's The Sunset Limited: A Novel in Dramatic Form. Plus an interview with Hillary Sydlowski, leader of the Not School Continue Reading …
The Existentialist Self in the World: Doubt, Being and Caring
If from continental philosophy you throw out transcendental phenomenology and older idealist trappings–transcendental subjects and so on–you are left with a system which still has two components: the world and the self. It was the relationship between these two that took hold as the major problem for 20th C. continental philosophy. The upshot of the first phase of the Continue Reading …
Not School Discussion of Zizek Now Available
I and four Citizens took a first crack at discussing The Year of Dreaming Dangerously yesterday (read more about our Not School group here). Since Freud and Jung, psychotherapy has been used to try to make sense of group behavior, and Lacan himself applied his insights to the political realm (among other places). Zizek follows in that tradition, doing a Marxist analysis of Continue Reading …
Not School: Slavoj Zizek’s “The Year of Dreaming Dangerously”
Featuring Mark Linsenmayer, Khari Robertson, Philip Cherny, Matt Cole, and Steve Robinson. Recorded October 22, 2013. Since Freud and Jung, psychotherapy has been used to try to make sense of group behavior, and Lacan himself applied his insights to the political realm (among other places). Zizek follows in that tradition, doing a Marxist analysis of the various events of Continue Reading …
More October Not School Groups: Zizek, Heidegger, Metzinger, Octavia Butler
Now that the government of the United States has finally shut down, the time is ripe for some revolutionary ideology. October's Not School activities offer at least two reading groups that should aid in that concern. One is a brand new group which will be reading The Year of Dreaming Dangerously by none other than that superstar philosopher whose nose hairs tickle him oh so Continue Reading …
The Digitization of the Real
“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte [From Sotiris Triantis] In a previous article here on the PEL blog 'Don’t Act. Just Think’: A Short Comment on Slavoj Zizek’s Critique of Activism, I argued that thinking is not enough in order to effect radical change in collective problems such Continue Reading …
‘Don’t Act. Just Think’: A short comment on Slavoj Zizek’s critique of Activism
[From Sotiris Triantis] Slavoj Zizek - in a video titled ‘Don’t Act. Just Think’ - suggests that in the social and political realm we should not act but think. It's an odd, somewhat counter-revolutionary thesis. Historical change has always been brought about by collective action. A more useful model might be: ‘First Think, Then Act’. When Noam Chomsky was asked by Continue Reading …
Chomsky vs. Zizek
Editor's Note: We feel the need to provide some coverage of one of the few big news stories in philosophy, which is the ongoing hostile exchange between two giants of the philosophical left, Noam Chomsky and Slavoj Žižek. Since none of us podcasters has read much by either fellow or has much patience for following this story, I've asked PEL Citizen Michael Burgess to fill in Continue Reading …
Zizek! – The Elvis of Cultural Theory [Review]
Zizek! is one of those documentaries centered around one really, really interesting person. For that reason it's more like Crumb or Bukowski - Born Into This than more famously philosophical movies like Waking Life. Zizek!'s structure is simple: The director and a small crew simply follow Slavoj Zizek as he goes about his daily business, which pretty much amounts to him walking Continue Reading …
Marxist Thought Today
The fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) seemed to herald the victory of capitalism over socialism, what Francis Fukuyama declared the "End of History;" the failure and death of both Marxist thought and political movements. Fukuyama, an eloquent Hegelian political philosopher and one-time neoconservative (and continued anti-Marxist) asserts uncompromisingly in his "End of History" Continue Reading …
Zizek and Pop Culture in Philosophy Today
PEL's last episode focused on Karl Marx via The German Ideology. Possibly one of the most famous/infamous Marxists of our time is Slavoj Zizek. Some have called him too extreme to be taken seriously, while others have praised him for his brilliance. A recent article in U.K. based paper The Guardian sheds some light on this interesting character and also discusses an upcoming Continue Reading …