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In Slavoj Zizek and Michel Foucault, this book brings together two of the most prominent thinkers in contemporary critical theory. Starting from a critical assessment of the Foucauldian paradigm of discourse analysis, it explores the theoretical scope and political consequences of Zizek's blend of Lacanian psychoanalysis, Hegelian philosophy and Marxist politics. The comparison between the two thinkers throws into relief the commonalities and irreconcilable differences of their respective approaches to critical theory. By unmasking reality as contingent symbolic fiction, the authors argue, Foucauldian criticism has only deconstructed the world in different ways; the point, however, is `to recognize the Real in what appears to be mere symbolic fiction' (Zizek) and to change it.
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Žižek Beyond Foucault
Fabio Vighi and Heiko Feldner
Zˇizˇek
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Zˇizˇek Beyond Foucault Fabio Vighi and Heiko Feldner
© Fabio Vighi & Heiko Feldner 2007 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN-13: 978–0–230–00151–0 hardback ISBN-10: 0–230–00151–3 hardback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vighi, Fabio, 1969 Zˇizˇek: beyond Foucault / Fabio Vighi and Heiko Feldner. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978–0–230–00151–0 ISBN-10: 0–230–00151–3 1. Zˇizˇek , Slavoj. 2. Foucault, Michel. I. Vighi, Feldner. II. Title. B4879.594V54 2007 199'.4973–dc22 10 16
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham and Eastbourne
Contents Prologue
Part I 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1
Discourse Analysis or Ideology Critique?
Why Discourse? Foucault’s Critical Historicism The Positive Unconscious: in Search of the Matrix Suspending Ontological Questions Matrix Reloaded: Zˇizˇek’s Ideology Critique Locating Antagonism: the Return of Class Struggle Beyond Anti-capitalism and Liberal Democracy
Part II
5 7 12 18 25 29 41 52
On Power and How To Enjoy It
75
8 ‘Where There Is Power …’ 9 ‘… There Is Resistance’ 10 The Missing Subject 11 Liberation Hurts: Zˇizˇek on Superego, Masochism and Enacted Utopia 12 The Leninist Act 13 Commodity