For the last two centuries, Western philosophy has developed in the shadow of Hegel, whose influence each new thinker tries in vain to escape: whether in the name of the pre-rational Will, the social process of production, or the contingency of individual existence. Hegel's absolute idealism has become the bogeyman of philosophy, obscuring the fact that he is the dominant philosopher of the epochal historical transition to modernity; a period with which our own time shares startling similarities. Today, as global capitalism comes apart at the seams, we are entering a new transition. In LESS THAN NOTHING, the pinnacle publication of a distinguished career, Slavoj Zizek argues that it is imperative that we not simply return to Hegel but that we repeat and exceed his triumphs, overcoming his limitations by being even more Hegelian than the master himself. Such an approach not only enables Zizek to diagnose our present condition, but also to engage in a critical dialogue with the key strands of contemporary thought - Heidegger, Badiou, speculative realism, quantum physics and cognitive sciences. Modernity will begin and end with Hegel.
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Praise for Living in the End Times: 'A compendium of long passages of fierce brilliance ... i ek is consistently penetrating.' --Steven Poole, Guardian;
Praise for Living in the End Times: 'Never ceases to dazzle.' --Brian Dillon, Daily Telegraph
Praise for Living in the End Times: 'The thinker of choice for Europe s young intellectual vanguard ... to witness i ek in full flight is a wonderful and at times alarming experience, part philosophical tightropewalk, part performance-art marathon, part intellectual roller-coaster ride.' --Sean O'Hagan, Observer
Praise for Living in the End Times: 'Never ceases to dazzle.' --Brian Dillon, Daily Telegraph
Praise for Living in the End Times: 'The thinker of choice for Europe s young intellectual vanguard ... to witness i ek in full flight is a wonderful and at times alarming experience, part philosophical tightropewalk, part performance-art marathon, part intellectual roller-coaster ride.' --Sean O'Hagan, Observer
About the Author
SLAVOJ ZIZEK is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a Professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His books include Living in the End Times, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, In Defense of Lost Causes, four volumes of the Essential Zizek, and many more.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 23 people found the following review helpful
By Derrida&Co
Format:Hardcover
Like all the other reviewers here I had hoped this would be the ultimate Zizek.
Like others I opened the book and started reading and hoped never to stop. However, after 300 pages, I felt disappointed and closed the book, not to open it again for soon.
Where did it go wrong?
First: Zizek's language is boring. Some of his criticism on Derrida may be right, but my God, do I prefer Derrida's inventive and creative style over Zizek's dull language!
Second: as with all of Zizek's books I read so far, I never see the structure. Also Zizek keeps on repeating over and over again the same themes not only of this book, but also the same old themes from previous works. I am re-reading at this moment Alain Badiou's Logical worlds, and this makes the lack of structure I experience in Zizek all the more tangible.
Third: Zizek's unconditional acceptance of Lacan's theories is so predictable and non critical. Lacan is always right, the others are wrong.
Fourth: Although I do get his point that Christianity is the most truthful atheism, I do not see any other reason for saying this the way he does it in this book, other than - again - his sense for shocking and disturbing. If you want a positive approach of post-Christianity you better read Jean-Luc Nancy's "Dis-enclosure: The deconstruction of Christianity".
Taking into consideration all the above, "Less than nothing ...." IS indeed the ultimate Zizek. You either like it or you hate it.
Like others I opened the book and started reading and hoped never to stop. However, after 300 pages, I felt disappointed and closed the book, not to open it again for soon.
Where did it go wrong?
First: Zizek's language is boring. Some of his criticism on Derrida may be right, but my God, do I prefer Derrida's inventive and creative style over Zizek's dull language!
Second: as with all of Zizek's books I read so far, I never see the structure. Also Zizek keeps on repeating over and over again the same themes not only of this book, but also the same old themes from previous works. I am re-reading at this moment Alain Badiou's Logical worlds, and this makes the lack of structure I experience in Zizek all the more tangible.
Third: Zizek's unconditional acceptance of Lacan's theories is so predictable and non critical. Lacan is always right, the others are wrong.
Fourth: Although I do get his point that Christianity is the most truthful atheism, I do not see any other reason for saying this the way he does it in this book, other than - again - his sense for shocking and disturbing. If you want a positive approach of post-Christianity you better read Jean-Luc Nancy's "Dis-enclosure: The deconstruction of Christianity".
Taking into consideration all the above, "Less than nothing ...." IS indeed the ultimate Zizek. You either like it or you hate it.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars
18 reviews
38 of 45 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the shadow of Dialectical Materialism
21 May 2012
By Åge Olav Mariussen, sociologist
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a warning: once you open this book and start to read, it is almost impossible to close it. There are great balls of fire jumping out every time you turn a page. Since the book contains 1038 pages, some of them must be read carefully, it may disrupt your plans, not just for the evening, but for the following days. What is especially provoking and enlightening is the way Zizek is positioning not just Hegel, but also Marx, in a Christian tradition. By turning Christianity upside down, and defining it as an atheist religion, he is able to make sense of the myths in a new and surprising way. And at the same time it suddenly is possible to see the links between Christianity, Marxism, and the Communism of Eastern Europe in a new way. His interpretation of Hegel is to me as a sociologist new and refreshing. Zizek not just defends Hegel in an admirable way, he clarifies the deep contemporary relevance of Hegel and his version of dialectical materialism in a way which demands attention, not just among philosophers, but also among sociologists trying to make sense of our contemporary political economy. In a work with this scope, it goes without saying, there are also ideas and sections which demands further work and discussion. My critical comment (after 500 pages) is the way Marx political economy is treated. Seen from the point of departure of Hegel, it is justified with a main emphasis on Capital Volume 2, on circulation, and the relation to modern financial capitalism, which are our time-travelers, borrowing money from the future, and destroying it. According to my opinion, Marx analysis of technology, which is crucial to the ways in which humans relate to nature, deserves more attention. What appears to be a financial crisis is also, perhaps primarily, related to the ways in which technological paradigms destabilize the global economy and creates technological unemployment. A related issue is the missing debate on neo-classical economic theory, the phenomenological economy of Shutz and Löwe, and the classical debate between the old guard in the Frankfurter School and the Stalinist Marxists on the dialectics of nature.
36 of 47 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
200 pages in... already overwhelmed with expectation
2 May 2012
By S. Koterbay
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Yes, I'm writing this the day that I received it. However, like no other book Zizek since Enjoy Your Symptom!: Jacques Lacan in Hollywood and Out (Routledge Classics) Looking Awry: An Introduction to Jacques Lacan through Popular Culture (October Books) have I felt such a sense of "worth it". While I pride myself on a solid background in German Idealism, and consider myself strongly aligned with Lacan, this book pushes beyond my expectations for insightfulness while retaining Zizek's typical style that includes passing references to cinema, jokes, and acknowledgement of the brilliance of other philosophers (no one does this better than Zizek... giving credit where credit is due). I'm sure admirers of Zizek have already purchased and received this, the same as I have, so I would be preaching to the choir in recommending this book, but to those who have circled around his ideas, are interested in Hegel, Lacan, Kant, Schelling, and Fichte (Fichte! who writes about my beloved Fichte these days?!?), this is worth the purchase. Updates to this review will follow.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
still something
7 Dec 2012
By Christian Palocz Ph.D.
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Zizek undoubtedly is one the great philosophers of our time, but misses greatly on his misconception, or lack off, eastern philosophy fabulous depths of understanding on dialectic. It must be some provincialism, well stated by Sloterdijk, that Zizek brushes of so lightly buddhism for example calling it eastern mysticism, and confounds it with esoteric, new age, or as if it didn't have anything to give western, or philosophy in general. Because of this lack of understanding the book even though profound and complete misses many points that could be clarified by the many Indian, Tibetan and Chinese dialecticians. Just by looking only at R. Thurman's translation of the Central Philosophy of Tibet, for example, to see the richness, rigor and depth of eastern thought. Aside from this lack the book puts dialectics, polarity, back to the front of thought, and must agree with Zizek when he says that Hegel will be the philosopher of the 21st century.
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4.3 out of 5 stars
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