I remember seeing SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK (had to copy/paste his name), debating JBP and he seems really interesting. Is he a marxist? is there a consensus among Marxists on him?
I would be interested in what you guys think of Philosophy and Theology professor, Sean J McGrath understanding of Žižek as a modern-day gnostic?
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1A0QT3hvOiIoWTHwVuk0SG
In this episode of the podcast Secular Christ, McGrath speaks of Žižek as one of today's intellectuals who best understands Christianity but sees him also as a representative of unredeemed human poverty. This he contrasts with for example Jordan Peterson that he sees as a representative of (unredeemed) human potentiality.
https://reddit.com/link/rjsjfh/video/d2wap4hqmg681/player
Zizek's new piece in the new issue of Crisis and Critique
https://www.crisiscritique.org/index.html
Heaven: Out of Order
With Slavoj Žižek
Chapo Trap House
Episode 582 (FULL)
December 6, 2021
I clicked on the link and it took me to the page of utopian socialism
On a recent appearance on The Jacobin Show in celebration of Bastille day, the philosopher Slavoj Žižek defended the legacy of the French Revolution, particularly the radical side of it under the leadership of Montagnards such as Robespierre and Saint-Just. Žizek criticizes the commonplace liberal interpretation of the revolution as something that began with good intentions but eventually descended into madness and proto-totalitarianism, offering a more positive view of the experience of the revolution as a whole. However, he confidently makes a lot of rather straightforward empirical claims to back up this point, which I am somewhat skeptical of. How accurate is Žižek being here?
Summing up his major factual claims:
- The Revolutionary Tribunal was not a show-trial. The outcome of trials was not predetermined and only around 60% of those accused were found guilty.
- Georges Danton actually was guilty of co-operation with the British government, based on some British primary sources.
- The royal family was actively plotting with the enemies of France to overthrow the revolutionary French government.
- After the Thermidorian reaction, the resulting white terror was just as bloody as the revolutionary terror, and the victims were far more likely to be from amongst "ordinary, low people."
- Robespierre and Saint-Just were not dictators. They were aware of the threat of personal dictatorship (of the emergence of a popular strongman, like ultimately happened with Napoleon) and consciously refused to go down that path. They were committed to republicanism and instead of simply eliminating all opposition through terror, they thought that they could defend their government with passionate speeches in the National Convention - a naivety which actually contributed to their downfall.
“Why has somebody like Slavoj Žižek with his Lacanian atheism and cynicism a better purchase on the essence of Pauline Christianity? It’s because there is a tragic ground to Christianity. Tragedy and hopelessness is the prolegomena, it’s the port of entry into Christianity.”
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1A0QT3hvOiIoWTHwVuk0SG
McGrath views Žižek as one of today's intellectuals who best understands Christianity but also as a representative of the philosophy of (unredeemed) human poverty. A tragic philosophy without hope or redemption and which he also contrasts with the philosophy of human potentiality.
https://reddit.com/link/rju8f8/video/dfc2v1ju9h681/player
