Slavoj Zizek

Slovenian Philosopher, cultural theorist and public intellectual who writes about psychoanalysis, politics, pop culture, and theology from a Hegelian and Lacanian perspective.

identifies as a radical-leftist, communist. Talks about capitalism. Hates both 20th century communism and liberal capitalism. Doesn’t like “wokeness”

makes use of crass jokes and obscene examples

contradicts himself

Bio

Year of birth: 1949
Nationality: Slovenian
Family
Period: -

Works

Important Works: -
Contributions
Key Ideas: -
Known For: Hegelo-Lacanian approach to ideology critique

Extra

was accused of self-plagiarism

has been praised for his originality, creativity, and relevance, but also criticized for his ambiguity, inconsistency, and lack of rigour. He has been accused of plagiarism, self-plagiarism, Eurocentrism, and bigotry

calls himself a “Christian atheist”

Controversies

Supported Trump in 2016
Inconsistent in his theories
His use of obscene examples

• His stance on gender - he wrote “Transgender dogma is naive and incompatible with Freud” in 2019

  received lots of criticism but he also said “To recapitulate, not only do I fully support the struggle of transgender people against their legal segregation, but I am also deeply affected by their reports of their suffering, and I see them not as a marginal group, which should be “tolerated” but as a group whose message is radically universal: it concerns us all; it tells the truth about all of us as sexual beings. I differ from the predominant opinion in two interconnected points that concern theory: (1) I see the anxiety apropos sexual identities as a universal feature of human sexuality, not just as a specific effect of sexual exclusions and segregations, which is why one should not expect it to disappear with the progress of sexual desegregation; (2) I draw a strict distinction between sexual difference (as the antagonism constitutive of human sexuality) and the binary (or plurality) of genders. Both these points are, of course, totally misread or ignored by my critics.”