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First published in 1989, The Sublime Object of Ideology was Žižek's breakthrough work, and is still regarded by many as his masterpiece. It was an iconoclastic reinvention of ideology critique that introduced the English-speaking world to Žižek's scorching brand of cultural and philosophical commentary and the multifaceted ways in which he explained it. Tying together concepts from aesthetics, psychoanalytic theory, cultural studies and the philosophy of belief, it changed the face of contemporary commentary and remains the underpinning of much of his subsequent thinking. This compelling guide introduces all of the influential thinkers and foundational concepts which Žižek draws on to create this seminal work. Grounding the text's many and varied references in the work of Peter Sloterdijk, Saul Kripke, Walter Benjamin, Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, Immanuel Kant and G.W.F. Hegel, amongst others, helps students who are encountering this mercurial writer for the first time to understand the philosophical context of his early explorations. Each of Žižek's key arguments are unpacked and laid out, alongside an invaluable account of how The Sublime Object of Ideology impacted the critical terrain on which it landed.

Modern political life is a confusing and disorientating terrain of competing ideologies. Jason Blakely offers readers a lively, fresh and insightful guide through the labyrinth of conflicting and competing ideas in order to better understand why ideology in the modern era can be so divisive. Lost in Ideology sets out from the conviction that the current disorientation engulfing the world's liberal democracies is in no small part ideological in origin. People feel confused because there are multiple ideological maps, so to speak, each marked by dramatically different points of interest, rivers, summits, roads, and total topographies. Ideology in the modern era has the paradoxical effect of orienting millions even as it disorients millions. This leads us to the present-day predicament in which individuals of every imaginable political stripe confidently declare: “I have a theory – but you? You have an ideology!”

“A great addition to the ongoing discourse around the value of perspective-taking, perfect for those hoping to elevate the approach to conversations about difficult subjects.” —Shelf AwarenessSeven essays that make the compelling case for coming to your own informed conclusions in an age of extremes. An Atlantic Edition, featuring long-form journalism by Atlantic writers, drawn from contemporary articles or classic storytelling from the magazine's 165-year archive.Caitlin Flanagan's two decades of celebrated reporting and commentary at The Atlantic span an array of subjects—from cancer to fraternities, abortion to scammers—but always return to one central question: What happens when we suppress our critical instincts and shut our ears to opposing opinions and competing facts? With poise, humor, and an analytical acumen unlike any other working journalist, this collection of deep reporting and cultural commentary encourages readers to dismantle their echo chambers—whether they be social media feeds or lecture halls—and embrace disagreement.

«La filosofía es la actividad disruptivade la razón y ésta se encuentra en el límite detodo pensamiento científico.» La obra filosófica, histórica, ensayística y periodística de Luis Villoro se ha extendido a lo largo de más de siete décadas, y transcurre por las corrientes más importantes de la segunda mitad del sigloxx: el existencialismo, la filosofía de lo mexicano, la fenomenología, la filosofía analítica, el marxismo y el multiculturalismo. La lista completa de sus publicaciones es extensa y se ocupa de una diversidad de temas sobre metafísica, epistemología, ética, filosofía política y filosofía de la religión; por lo mismo, resulta relevante contar con una guía para empezar a leer su obra o adentrarse más en su pensamiento. Esta antología organiza la obra filosófica de Villoro a partir de cuatro ejes temáticos que la atraviesan y le dan unidad diacrónica a su pensamiento: la otredad; la relación entre los conceptos de conocimiento, verdad y racionalidad; la relación entre el poder y las ideas; y la relación entre los conceptos de comunidad, democracia y justicia. Cada uno corresponde a un capítulo de este libro: «Lo otro y los otros» comprende escritos sobre metafísica, filosofía de la religión y antropología filosófica. En «Conocimiento, racionalidad y verdad» se incluyen ensayos sobre teoría del conocimiento. «El poder y las ideas» recoge sus reflexiones sobre el poder, el cambio político, la ideología y el nexo entre las ideas y el poder. Y en «Comunidad, democracia y justicia» se agrupan textos que van desde la metafísica social hasta la teoría de la democracia, pasando por la teoría de la justicia. La razón disruptiva tiene como propósito, por un lado, que nuevos lectores se acerquen a la obra de uno de los filósofos más destacados de la cultura iberoamericana; y, por otro, que los lectores más avezados dispongan, en un solo volumen, de algunos de sus escritos más conocidos —sus «clásicos», por así decirlo— y de otros de enorme valía que quizá no han sido tan leídos fuera de los círculos de especialistas.

The chapters in this volume clarify the notion of political identity by focusing on the metaphysics of polities. By analysing the notion of political identity, they provide the conceptual resources for a deeper understanding of the theoretical and practical debates on populism, the crisis of sovereignty, the feasibility of a world government, and ethical, religious, and cultural pluralism.What is a political community? Any answer to this question lies at the intersection between three fields: metaphysics, philosophy of action, and political philosophy. The question concerns how and why a plurality of individuals becomes a political unity, what principles or forces keep that unity together, and what threats that unity can encounter. In this volume, the contributors investigate how different metanormative views affect the possible answers to this metaphysical question. They explore the role that the individual identities of agents play in grounding common practices that underpin political life. They investigate the individual identities of agents as the result of the interplay between natural and cultural factors. Finally, they observe the ways in which a political community, as a collection of individuals who hang together in an attempt to reach common purposes, demonstrate a certain metaphysical solidity.Political Identity and the Metaphysics of Polities will appeal to researchers and advanced students working in metaphysics, political philosophy, political theory, and philosophy of action.

This book discusses Marx's relations with Russia, which have always been ambivalent. In his youth, and indeed a good way into the 1860s, Marx might even be called a “Russophobe.” Around 1870, however, his views on Russia undergo a change; he becomes acquainted with a new kind of Russian radical and revolutionary movement and begins to study Russian. It becomes clear that Marx begins to feel that Russia is some kind of a “touchstone” for his theories. Offering a new and original interpretation of Marx's theoretical development, Marx's Russian Moment analyzes the following themes: Marx's concept of ideology (as developed in the German Ideology) and its fortunes in Russia; Marx's encounter with Bakunin and Russian nihilism; Marx's and Engels's studies of primitive societies; Engels's views of the developmental perspectives of small Slavic nations; and Marx's views on Finland, the Russian Grand Duchy. Considering these topics as “case studies,” Oittinen argues that Marx's encounter with Russia substantially influenced Marx's (and Engels's) views not just on current political and economic matters but also on a philosophical and methodological level.

On the Southern border of the United States in 2018, the decision was made to implement a separation policy among refugees and migrant families arriving at the border – and so a group of government employees left their homes, bidding farewell to their families as they went to work, and began to separate hundreds of children from their families, forcefully taking them to holding centres. Developing Hannah Arendt's analysis of the banality of evil, The Path to Mass Evil demonstrates how the most educated, sophisticated and advanced societies in human history have the potential to descend into profound inhumanity and in the extreme can turn into enormous killing machines, implementing mass murder on a vast scale.Suitable for undergraduates and graduates in philosophy, sociology, psychology and religion, Michael Hardiman reveals how traditional understandings of morality fail to grasp how ordinary citizens become collaborators and engage in a range of levels of evildoing. He also highlights the necessity of confronting this evil in the increasingly divided and antagonistic world in which we find ourselves today.

The Recurrence of the End Times: Voegelin, Hegel, and the Stop-History Movements explores the deep connection between modern political ideologies and the secular eschatological hopes and dreams of a post-Christian society. Focusing primarily upon the thought of 20th century German émigré political scientist Eric Voegelin, the book argues that we cannot understand the globalized world in which we live unless we appreciate the lasting influence of the various'End of History'speculators—specifically, G.W.F Hegel, Alexandre Kojève, and Francis Fukuyama. Through a Voegelinian lens, he dissects the relationship between these three thinkers, also claiming that while Voegelin may have misunderstood Hegel, his critiques of the Hegelian approach to history offer fresh and important perspectives on the contemporary world. This makes a forceful argument that the idea of history as a teleological path, leading toward some goal—whether perfect harmony between nations, a technocratic utopia, a return to some romanticized idyllic “state of nature,” or what Kojève and Fukuyama called the “universal and homogenous State”—has vast, and perverse, implications for the trajectory of American foreign and domestic policy.

This book comprehensively collects the thinking - over the last 25 years - of one the most important contemporary scholars in the field of ideology studies. Clearly organised, it expounds on the changing nature of the sub-discipline, its components and methods of investigation. As such, it serves the need for a general, well-informed identification and elaboration of thematic possibilities in current ideology studies and represents the most developed and productive methodological approach to the study of ideologies in the last three decades. Freeden presents ideology studies as an evolving and vibrant field, encountering and surmounting a series of challenges in its successful path towards recognition as a fully legitimate and respected branch of political theory. This book will be of key interest to students and scholars of political ideologies, political theory, political philosophy and more broadly to sociology, political science, anthropology, human geography, international studies and the humanities.

This annotated commentary delineating Michel Pêcheux's materialist discourse theory anticipates the formation of a real social science to supersede the metaphysical meanings ‘always-already-there'instituted by empirical ideology. Structures of Language presents Pêcheux's consequential work in respect of Ferdinand de Saussure's epistemological breakthrough that founded the science of linguistics: the theoretical separation of sound from meaning. Noam Chomsky's generative grammar, John Searle's philosophy of language, B. F. Skinner's indwelling agents, J. L. Austin's speech situations, Jacques Lacan's symbolic order, and other influential linguistic researchers, are cited to explain imaginary semantic systems. The broader implications for structural metaphysics in language use are tacitly conveyed.

Dal punto di vista di Costanzo Preve, oggi, in Italia, non esiste un pericolo fascista (come d'altronde non esiste alcuna prospettiva comunista), per il semplice fatto che non ce n'è bisogno. Le classi subalterne non costituiscono una minaccia, la demo- crazia moderna è in corso di smantellamento, la morale è ultraindividualista e – a livello geopolitico – siamo in piena fase di ricolonizzazione. Il nemico principale è un altro. L'attuale crisi della democrazia non è la conseguenza di un complotto o di un attacco, ma di una nuova configurazione nei rapporti di forza tra le classi che ha portato al trionfo del liberismo reale. Il quale, senza più avversari, si è ripreso con gli interessi ciò che aveva dovuto cedere in passato. Il concetto di democrazia è così stato quasi completamente svuotato dal suo significato originario, che non risiede nell'affermazione del principio di maggioranza, nella tutela istituzionale delle minoranze o nel mantenimento di uno spazio pubblico. La democrazia non è fatta solo di procedure formali, ma è una questione di contenuti, di accesso del demos al potere, di controllo collettivo del popolo sulla sua riproduzione economica. È una questione di comunità reale.

Jorge Alemán analiza en este libro la problemática de la Ideología a partir de una interpretación de algunos textos de Louis Althusser y la relaciona con el tema lacaniano del Fantasma. También elabora una lectura de la Época vinculada al neoliberalismo y a la pandemia actual. Con esos elementos teóricos extrae diversas implicaciones que atañen al sujeto y a la sociedad en la nueva realidad por la que estamos transitando. Y propone una perspectiva activa para afrontar este tiempo marcado por la desafección ética y política.

Carl Schmitt war ein Mann des polemischen Traktats, der Streitschrift, des Pamphlets. Zu seiner eigentlichen literarischen Form fand er in dem, was die Franzosen einen ›brûlot‹ nennen: ein entflammbarer Text, ein Boot mit hochentzündlicher Fracht, dazu bestimmt, das Schiff des Gegners in Brand zu setzen. Ein solcher ›brûlot‹ ist die Schrift über die »Tyrannei der Werte«. Der Titel enthält bereits die ganze These. Werte können dem Gemeinwesen und seinem Recht keinen festen Grund bieten, sie verschärfen vielmehr dessen Probleme. Gerade wenn man von ihnen erwartet, sie sollen Gemeinsamkeit stiften, wirken sie zerstörerisch. […] Der jungen Bundesrepublik, in der man sich nach der tiefen Verunsicherung durch Nationalsozialismus und Krieg gern und viel auf Werte berief, liest Carl Schmitt auf diese Weise die Leviten. So scheinbar klar seine zentrale These daherkommt, so rasch drängen sich dem Leser freilich grundsätzliche Fragen auf. Auf welcher Ebene bewegt sich Schmitts Argumentation eigentlich? Geht es um politische Philosophie, um allgemeine Ethik oder um Verfassungsrecht und Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit? Schmitt selbst gibt einen Hinweis, wenn er »Überlegungen eines Juristen zur Wert-Philosophie« ankündigt. […] Sein Text wählt von vornherein eine schwierige Zwischenlage zwischen Philosophie und Jurisprudenz. Der Autor will Philosophen und Juristen etwas sagen, geht damit freilich auch das Risiko ein, beide zu enttäuschen. Aus dem Nachwort von Christoph Schönberger

Ever since the shocking revelations of the fascist ties of Martin Heidegger and Paul de Man, postmodernism has been haunted by the specter of a compromised past. In this intellectual genealogy of the postmodern spirit, Richard Wolin shows that postmodernism's infatuation with fascism has been extensive and widespread. He questions postmodernism's claim to have inherited the mantle of the Left, suggesting instead that it has long been enamored with the opposite end of the political spectrum. Wolin reveals how, during in the 1930s, C. G. Jung, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Georges Bataille, and Maurice Blanchot were seduced by fascism's promise of political regeneration and how this misapprehension affected the intellectual core of their work. The result is a compelling and unsettling reinterpretation of the history of modern thought. In a new preface, Wolin revisits this illiberal intellectual lineage in light of the contemporary resurgence of political authoritarianism.

This edited work is spurred by the 30-year anniversary of the groundbreaking work by Paul Ricoeur, Lectures on Ideology and Utopia (1986)—and the 40-year anniversary of the original lectures (1975). Ricoeur took these concepts that continue to be enormously important in social and political analysis and connected them in a uniquely intricate dance. The ensuing interplay of these concepts provides a framework for a more deft and subtle evaluation than is common. Little has been done to engage Ricoeur's skill in interpreting ideology and utopia or their creative tension, perhaps due to his significant contributions in other areas. When one combines Ricoeur's intricate analyses of ideology and utopia, however, with his contributions in other areas of philosophy such as hermeneutics, anthropology, embodiment, and philosophy of religion, one has fertile grounds for reflection in many directions. The essays in this book draw on these resources not only to engage the strengths and weaknesses of Ricoeur's original work, but they also expand his understanding in creative new directions such as the social imaginary, embodiment, gender theory, immigration, and extremist political rhetoric. The text will bring to the fore how this aspect of Ricoeur's work has significance for the wider twenty-first century political landscape. Just as his original work, this book provides much-needed resources for critique of each term, along with their relationship to one another, while recognizing the positive dimension of their function.

Western philosophy has been dominated by the concept or the idea—the belief that there is one sovereign notion or singular principle that can make reality explicable and bring all that exists under its sway. In modern politics, this role is played by ideology. Left, right, or center, political schools of thought share a metaphysics of simplification. We internalize a dominant, largely unnoticeable framework, oblivious to complex, plural, and occasionally conflicting or mutually contradictory explanations for what is the case.In this groundbreaking work, Michael Marder proposes a new methodology for political science and philosophy, one which he terms “categorial thinking.” In contrast to the concept, no category alone can exhaust the meaning of anything: categories are so many folds, complications, respectful of multiplicity. Ranging from classical Aristotelian and Kantian philosophies to phenomenology and contemporary politics, Marder's book offers readers a theoretical toolbox for the interpretation of political phenomena, processes, institutions, and ideas. His categorial apparatus encompasses political temporality and spatiality; the revolutionary and conservative modalities of political actuality, possibility, and necessity; quantitative and qualitative approaches to the study of political reality; the meaning of political relations; and various senses of political being. Under this lens, the political appears not as a singular concept but as a family of categories, allowing room for new, plural, and often antagonistic ideas about the state, the people, sovereignty, and power.

This book identifies the origins and central assertions of bourgeois ideology as well as the reasons for their persuasive power, and offers pedagogical tools to weaken them. The author suggests techniques for use in the classroom, the community and the imagination that subvert negative stereotypes about poor people and individualist explanations for socio-economic status. Written from an ecumenical socialist perspective combining Marxist, neo-Marxist, and anarchist perspectives, this book utilizes a broad interdisciplinary scope, encompassing political theory, religion, political psychology, and literature.

Recent scholarship in political thought has closely examined the relationship between European political ideas and colonialism, particularly the ways in which canonical thinkers supported or opposed colonial practices. But little attention has been given to the engagement of colonized political and intellectual actors with European ideas. The essays in this volume demonstrate that a full reckoning of colonialism's effects requires attention to the ways in which colonized intellectuals reacted to, adopted, and transformed these ideas, and to the political projects that their reactions helped to shape. Across nine chapters, a mix of political theorists and intellectual historians grapple with specific thinkers and contexts to show in detail the unpredictable, complex and sometimes paradoxical impact of European ideas in an array of colonial settings.

Mesmo em uma democracia, não é incomum observar, com olhos mais atentos, manifestações ideológicas do autoritarismo no Brasil. Elas estiveram presentes no país, entre outros momentos, na ação integralista dos anos 1930, na luta pela redemocratização cinco décadas depois, no arcaísmo fora de moda dos anos 1990 – e hoje surgem de forma mais sofisticada nas relações de poder, apesar dos quase 30 anos do fim do último regime ditatorial. Este segundo volume da coleção Escritos de Marilena Chaui chega em hora propícia, logo quando o país se surpreende com inúmeras manifestações massivas, intimamente vinculadas ao evidente autoritarismo da política brasileira. Estão reunidos aqui artigos publicados em livros, revistas e jornais nas décadas de 1970, 1980, 1990 e 2000, que oferecem ao leitor uma consistente análise das diversas manifestações ideológicas do autoritarismo já ocorridas e ainda presentes no país, tendo como pano de fundo o contexto dessas décadas. O leitor encontrará nestes textos motivações para investigar as origens do autoritarismo brasileiro e criticar as suas manifestações atuais. Observadora atenta das lutas sociais na sociedade de classes desde a década de 1970, Marilena Chaui oferece aqui um instrumental crítico que compreende desde a visão autoritária das elites dominantes até sua atuação na conformação do Estado. O livro traz, portanto, questões de fundo da ideologia e do autoritarismo nativo, em um rico conjunto de textos de cunho eminentemente político e que reforçam o fortalecimento, ainda necessário, da democracia brasileira.

Author of the influential Relational Aesthetics examines the dynamics of ideology Leading theorist and art curator Nicolas Bourriaud tackles the excluded, the disposable and the nature of waste by looking to the future of art—the exform. He argues that the great theoretical battles to come will be fought in the realms of ideology, psychoanalysis and art. A “realist” theory and practice must begin by uncovering the mechanisms that create the distinctions between the productive and unproductive, product and waste, and the included and excluded. To do this we must go back to the towering theorist of ideology Louis Althusser and examine how ideology conditions political discourse in ways that normalize cultural, racial and economic practices of exclusion.

Leading theorist and art curator Nicolas Bourriaud tackles the excluded, the disposable and the nature of waste by looking to the future of art-the exform.He argues that the great theoretical battles to come will be fought in the realms of ideology, psychoanalysis and art. A'realist'theory and practice must begin by uncovering the mechanisms that create the distinctions between the productive and unproductive, product and waste, and the included and excluded.To do this we must go back to the towering theorist of ideology Louis Althusser and examine how ideology conditions political discourse in ways that normalize cultural, racial and economic practices of exclusion.

Dogma's Primrose Path addresses how the perpetual presence of ignorance, poverty, and war throughout the world is accepted by most people as an inevitable consequence of human life given man's incurably evil, greedy, and violent nature. John L. Martinez argues that this almost universal acceptance is itself a dogmatically learned and programmed condition. This book suggests that human beings need to discard their dogmatic straightjackets and begin to thrive upon reason, logic, perception, and experience in order to live together fruitfully and peaceably.

This book offers a new ideology critique for political analysis by revisiting Habermas via a Žižekian reading. The book includes an application of the theory to the case of the political consensus reached in Chile's post-Pinochet.

'Ideologie - das ist doch Schnee von gestern': Die Geringschätzung ist unberechtigt. Ausgehend von der gängigen Begriffsverwendung werden Ideologien in dreifacher Weise betrachtet: erkenntniskritisch als Formen bedürfnisgeleiteten Denkens, weltanschaulich als Weltbildannahmen und Wertüberzeugungen sowie programmatisch als soziopolitische Leitvorstellungen. Die Grundelemente der condition humaine werden mit den Prinzipien empirisch-rationalen Denkens konfrontiert. Menschen sind für bedürfnisgeleitetes Denken anfällig - aber sie können etwas dagegen tun.

Ein moderner Idealismus stützt sich auf den transzendentalen Charakter der wissenschaftlichen Axiomatik wie auf die indeterministischen Ergebnisse der modernen Naturwissenschaften. Die Flucht in die Ideologie, Utopie oder Dogmatik hat nur derjenige nötig, welcher zur Transzendierung unfähig ist. Die Zusammenfassung und Einordnung der empirischen Theorien, Teilwerte und einzelreligiösen Bekenntnisse erfolgen durch ihre Überhöhung in den höchsten Ideen. Der Mangel an dem hierzu erforderlichen hermeneutischen Verständnis zwingt zu Ersatzvorstellungen in Form beliebig verabsolutierter empirischer Theorien oder Hypothesen, Teilwerte und konfessioneller Dogmen. Diese kommen nicht wissenschaftlich, sittlich oder göttlich geboten zustande, sondern werden willkürlich gesetzt. Der Realismus in der Lebensbewältigung bis hin zur Politik liegt in der gekonnten transzendentalen und ethischen Handhabung beschränkter Modelle.

Nuestra época está infestada de fantasmas: existe un antagonismo cada vez mayor entre el proceso de abstracción acelerada de nuestras vidas -sea en el ámbito del universo digital o de las relaciones mercantiles- y el diluvio de imágenes pseudoconcretas que nos rodean. Ante esta situación, el pensamiento crítico tradicional habría procurado descubrir las raíces de las ideas abstractas en la realidad social concreta, pero, en la actualidad, el método adecuado es el inverso: partir de la imaginería pseudoconcreta para llegar a los procesos abstractos que estructuran nuestras vidas. Mediante ejemplos que abarcan desde las diferencias nacionales en el diseño de inodoros hasta la cibersexualidad y las repuestas de los intelectuales a la guerra, pasando por las sexualidades transgresoras y la música de Robert Schumann, Žižek explora las relaciones entre fantasía e ideología, el modo en el que la fantasía anima y estructura el goce al tiempo que protege de sus excesos, la relación del concepto de fetichismo con la seducción fantasmática y las formas en las que la digitalización y el ciberespacio afectan a la categoría de subjetividad. Para los iniciados, El acoso de las fantasías será un recordatorio bienvenido de por qué adoran los textos de Žižek; para los nuevos lectores, será el comienzo de una larga y fructífera camaradería.

Modern audiovisual media have spawned a'plague of fantasies', electronically inspired phantasms that cloud the ability to reason and prevent a true understanding of a world increasingly dominated by abstractions-whether those of digital technology or the speculative market.Into this arena, enters Zizek: equipped with an agile wit and the skills of a prodigious scholar, he confidently ranges among a dazzling array of cultural references-explicating Robert Schumann as deftly as he does John Carpenter-to demonstrate how the modern condition blinds us to the ideological basis of our lives.

In this combative major work, philosophical sharpshooter Slavoj Zizek looks for the kernel of truth in the totalitarian politics of the past. Examining Heidegger's seduction by fascism and Foucault's flirtation with the Iranian Revolution, he suggests that these were the'right steps in the wrong direction'. On the revolutionary terror of Robespierre, Mao and the Bolsheviks, Zizek argues that while these struggles ended in historic failure and horror, there was a valuable core of idealism lost beneath the bloodshed. A redemptive vision has been obscured by the soft, decentralized politics of the liberal-democratic consensus. Faced with the coming ecological crisis, Zizek argues the case for revolutionary terror and the dictatorship of the proletariat. A return to past ideals is needed despite the risks. In the words of Samuel Beckett:'Try again. Fail again. Fail better.'

This major voice in French philosophy presents a classic study of how particular political and cultural ideas come to dominate society. Spanning the years 1964 to 1973, On Ideology contains the seminal text, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus” (1970), which revolutionized the concept of subject formation. In “Reply to John Lewis” (1972–73), Althusser addressed the criticisms of the English Marxist toward On Marx and Reading Capital. Also included are “Freud and Lacan” (1964) and “A Letter on Art in Reply to André Daspre” (1966).

The renowned philosophical sharpshooter looks for the kernel of truth in the fascist politics of the past—offering an adrenaline-fueled manifesto for universal values.Is global emancipation a lost cause? Are universal values outdated relics of an earlier age? In fear of the horrors of totalitarianism, should we submit ourselves to a miserable third way of economic liberalism and government-as-administration?In this combative major work, philosophical sharpshooter Slavoj Žižek takes on the reigning ideology with a plea that we should re-appropriate several “lost causes”—and look for the kernel of truth in the “totalitarian” politics of the past.Examining Heidegger's seduction by fascism and Foucault's flirtation with the Iranian Revolution, he suggests that these were the “right steps in the wrong direction.” He argues that while the revolutionary terror of Robespierre, Mao, and the Bolsheviks ended in historic failure and monstrosity, this is not the whole story. There is, in fact, a redemptive moment that gets lost in the outright liberal-democratic rejection of revolutionary authoritarianism and the valorization of soft, consensual, decentralized politics.Žižek claims that, particularly in light of the forthcoming ecological crisis, we should reinvent revolutionary terror and the dictatorship of the proletariat in the struggle for universal emancipation. We need to courageously accept the return to this Cause—even if we court the risk of a catastrophic disaster. In the words of Samuel Beckett: “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Slavoj Zizek, the maverick philosopher, author of over 30 books, acclaimed as the'Elvis of cultural theory', and today's most controversial public intellectual. His work traverses the fields of philosophy, psychoanalysis, theology, history and political theory, taking in film, popular culture, literature and jokes-all to provide acute analyses of the complexities of contemporary ideology as well as a serious and sophisticated philosophy. His recent films The Pervert's Guide to the Cinema and Zizek! reveal a theorist at the peak of his powers and a skilled communicator. Now Verso is making his classic titles, each of which stand as a core of his ever-expanding life's work, available as new editions. Each is beautifully re-packaged, including new introductions from Zizek himself. Simply put, they are the essential texts for understanding Zizek's thought and thus cornerstones of contemporary philosophy.The Sublime Object of Ideology: Slavoj Zizek's first book is a provocative and original work looking at the question of human agency in a postmodern world. In a thrilling tour de force that made his name, he explores the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society.

Psychoanalysis is less merciful than Christianity. Where God the Father forgives our ignorance, psychoanalysis holds out no such hope. Ignorance is not a sufficient ground for forgiveness since it masks enjoyment; an enjoyment which erupts in those black holes in our symbolic universe that escape the Father's prohibition.Today, with the disintegration of state socialism, we are witnessing this eruption of enjoymnet in the re-emergence of aggressive nationalism and racism. With the lid of repression lifted, the desires that have emerged are far from democratic. To explain this apparent paradox, says Slavoj Zizek, socialist critical thought must turn to psychoanalysis.For They Know Not What They Do seeks to understand the status of enjoyment within ideological discourse, from Hegel through Lacan to these political and ideological deadlocks. The author's own enjoyment of'popular culture'makes this an engaging and lucid exposition, in which Hegel joins hands with Rossellini, Marx with Hitchcock, Lacan with Frankenstein, high theory with Hollywood melodrama.

The publication of For Marx and Reading Capital established Louis Althusser as one of the most influential figures in the Western Marxist tradition. On Ideology charts Althusser's critique of the theoretical system unveiled in his own major works, and his developing practice of philosophy as a'revolutionary weapon.'

Thomas Sowell's “extraordinary” explication of the competing visions of human nature lie at the heart of our political conflicts (New York Times)Controversies in politics arise from many sources, but the conflicts that endure for generations or centuries show a remarkably consistent pattern. In this classic work, Thomas Sowell analyzes this pattern. He describes the two competing visions that shape our debates about the nature of reason, justice, equality, and power: the'constrained'vision, which sees human nature as unchanging and selfish, and the'unconstrained'vision, in which human nature is malleable and perfectible. A Conflict of Visions offers a convincing case that ethical and policy disputes circle around the disparity between both outlooks.

Soziale Ideologien und Politische Systeme ist ein Versuch, den Bezug zwischen ideologischen Überzeugungen und bestimmten geschichtlichen Ereignissen herzustellen, wie etwa Entscheidungen, sich unter totalitären oder militärischen Zwängen zu widersetzen oder zu emigrieren. Die Aufsätze in diesem Band versuchen, Webers und Mannheims Weg zu folgen, um den Grad zu bestimmen, den politische, religiöse oder Klasseninteressen einnehmen oder, andererseits, durch stark verankerte soziale Ideologien untergraben werden. Die Erfahrungen von Krieg, Revolution und Genozid im Europa des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts bilden den Hintergrund für diese Studien über persönliche Entscheidungen unter schwierigen Lebens- und Todesumständen.

Eric Voegelin is famous as a philosopher of history and a as one of the most eminent political scientists of the 20th century. His most fundamental work on political theory, the'New Science of Politics, is nowadays considered a classic in ist field. While the'New Science'has always been a very controversial book, ist critics have hardly ever taken the pain to pinpoint the weaknesses they condemmed Voegelins book for. There is, however, one exception: Only shortly after the appearance of Voegelins'New Science'in 1954, Hans Kelsen has written a most detailed reply to this book of his former student. This reply, which was known to Voegelin and is mentioned in his autobiography, is now being published by the ontos verlag. Being a distinguished philosopher himself of an erudition and breadth of knowledge that matches that of Eric Voegelin, Hans Kelsen is able to support the critical stance he takes on Voegelin'New Science'by clear and well founded argument. This critical reply to Voegelins'New Science'is not only an important contribution to the dispute about the foundations of political order in modern society, but will also prove valuable to readers generally interested in Voegelins life and work.

With the originality and energy that have marked his earlier works, Eric Wolf now explores the historical relationship of ideas, power, and culture. Responding to anthropology's long reliance on a concept of culture that takes little account of power, Wolf argues that power is crucial in shaping the circumstances of cultural production. Responding to social-science notions of ideology that incorporate power but disregard the ways ideas respond to cultural promptings, he demonstrates how power and ideas connect through the medium of culture.Wolf advances his argument by examining three very different societies, each remarkable for its flamboyant ideological expressions: the Kwakiutl Indians of the Northwest Pacific Coast, the Aztecs of pre-Hispanic Mexico, and National Socialist Germany. Tracing the history of each case, he shows how these societies faced tensions posed by ecological, social, political, or psychological crises, prompting ideological responses that drew on distinctive, historically rooted cultural understandings. In each case study, Wolf analyzes how the regnant ideology intertwines with power around the pivotal relationships that govern social labor. Anyone interested in the history of anthropology or in how the social sciences make comparisons will want to join Wolf in Envisioning Power.