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LESS THAN NOTHING: HEGEL AND THE SHADOW OF DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM
By SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK
Published: 11th June 2012
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EVENTS IN LONDON
Monday 11 June, 7pm
Central Saint Martins Campus, London N1
The new Central Saint Martins campus at Kings Cross will host the renowned philosopher Slavoj Žižek in conversation with Jonathan Derbyshire, the culture editor of the New Statesman. From Hegel to the Occupy movement, expect an interesting thought-provoking discussion followed by audience Q and A.
For more information visit: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/cultural-capital/2012/05/slavoj-%C5%BEi%C5%BEek-conversation-new-statesman
15 June-16 June
Café Oto, 18 - 22 Ashwin St, Dalston, London E8 3D
Hegel 101 seminar, 24 hour reading of LESS THAN NOTHING & talk by Zizek. Details coming soon on versobooks.com
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"I am writing a mega-book about Hegel. It is a true work of love. This is my true life's work. Even Lacan is just a tool for me to read Hegel. For me, always it is Hegel, Hegel, Hegel... but people just want the shitty politics." Slavoj Žižek
For the last two centuries, Western philosophy hasdeveloped in the shadow of HEGEL, whose influence each new thinker tries invain 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 factthat he is the dominant philosopher of the epochal historical transition tomodernity; 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 pinnaclepublication of a distinguished career, Slavoj Žižek 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 Žižek 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 SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK:
“Superstar messiah of the new left” OBSERVER
“An intellectual whirlwind” DAILY TELEGRAPH
“A superstar of Elvis-like magnitude–a bogglingly dynamic whirlwind of brainpower.” DAZED & CONFUSED
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SLAVOJ ŽIŽEKis 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 other books from Verso include LIVING IN THE END TIMES, FIRST AS TRAGEDY, THEN AS FARCE, IN DEFENSE OF LOST CAUSES, THE SUBLIME OBJECT OF IDEOLOGY, THE FRAGILE ABSOLUTE: OR, WHY IS THE CHRISTIAN LEGACY WORTH FIGHTING FOR, THE TICKLISH SUBJECT, THE PLAGUES OF FANTASIES, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO, THE INDIVISIBLE REMAINDER, WELCOME TO THE DESERT OF THE REAL,IRAQ: THE BORROWED KETTLE, and DID SOMEBODY SAY TOTALITARIANISM? He has also appeared in the films ŽIŽEK!, EXAMINED LIFE and The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema.
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ISBN: 978 1 84467 897 6 / $69.95 / ?50.00 / Hardback / 1040 pages
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For more information about LESS THAN NOTHING, or to buy the book visit:
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1114-less-than-nothing
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