The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek is considered by many people to be the most relevant European philosopher from the actuality.
His way of thinking, which mixes Marxism with the ideas of Jacques Lacan, is a sharp scalpel with which in the pages of Žižek’s books both current issues most related to geopolitics and the great social phenomena that go setting the pace of history.
The Middle East refugee crisis, the emergence of far-right movements, the emergence of forces that demand greater political participation for the popular classes and the American invasions in other countries are analyzed by the Slovenian as part of a historical dynamic. linked to the cyclical problems that appear in capitalism and, like Noam Chomsky, this philosopher believes that large oligopolies are strong enough to influence our thinking patterns.
Books by Slavoj Žižek to understand his philosophy
Slavoj Žižek’s work is especially interesting for those people who want to understand the role that our ideology has in our way of thinking, acting and relating, since, for this philosopher, even the person most convinced of being apolitical clings to an ideology. policy without being aware of it by not occasionally questioning it.
Let’s see what they are the ten most relevant books by Slavoj Zizek
1. Welcome to the desert of reality
In this book, Žižek analyzes the post-9/11 world to question some of the “great truths” on which Western democracies are based and their diagnosis of the world’s problems. Some of the totems against which he charges in these pages are the discourse of the war against terrorism predominant for years in the United States or the supposed privileged position from which we are able to learn about the problems of non-Western countries from developed democracies.
2. The year we dream dangerously
As in other books by Slavoj Žižek, here we talk about social movements and revolutions However, here we talk about a period in which these gained special importance to the point of changing the way of thinking of many people: the year 2011, when protest movements such as 15-M, Occupy Wall Street and when The so-called “Arab springs” gained strength. The philosopher analyzes the way in which these small cultural and political revolutions appeared and ended up mutating into less short-term initiatives.
3. Enjoy your symptom! Lacan inside and outside Hollywood
In this book Slavoj Žižek shows his side most related to Lacanian psychoanalysis With the large doses of humor and provocative spirit that characterize him, the philosopher talks about cinema, psychoanalysis and the ways in which our thinking articulates the perception of reality.
4. The new class struggle
The refugee crisis is addressed head-on by this philosopher, who The book is dedicated to emphasizing the need to solve the problem at its root Limiting yourself to managing the collection of refugees without seeing further in reading the situation means losing two wars: embracing the discourse of the xenophobic extreme right and, on the other hand, legitimizing forms of military intervention in countries outside the Welfare State.
In the pages of this book the Slovenian author describes the state of progressive movements and the way in which they depend on ambiguous principles that are easy to manipulate from outside. The philosopher focuses on the figure of Lenin to rescue principles of speech development and political argument
If you are interested in the book, click on this link.
6. First as a tragedy, then as a farce
In this book Žižek draws from his Marxist perspective to explain how liberalism, as an ideology, has collapsed being unable to explain the crises experienced throughout the 20th century, the way in which the property system serves to impose policies above the popular will and how under formal freedom inequalities can be perpetuated and increased more flagrant.
On this page you will find more information about this book.
7. How to read Lacan
One of Žižek’s best-known books, although its title is somewhat misleading; More than being a guide on how to interpret the writings and seminars of the French psychoanalyst, It is a way of understanding the way in which Zizek gives birth to Lacanian thought in his analyzes of reality and art.
To read more about this book, go to this page.
8. In defense of intolerance
Žižek dedicates the pages of this book to criticizing the depoliticization of the economy and moral relativism which for the philosopher does nothing more than feed a system of domination based on neoliberalism and which, however, is assumed by leftist movements.
Are you interested in this book? Here is more information about him.
One of Žižek’s books that delve most deeply into this author’s philosophy. In The sublime object of ideologythis philosopher criticizes ideas deeply rooted in postmodern philosophy and in the relativism to which it is associated through psychoanalytic theory.
To read more about this work, click here.
10. The puppet and the dwarf: the perverse core of Christianity
In this work Žižek talks about the religious phenomenon, focusing on the Judeo-Christian tradition and recent forms of New Age spirituality Starting from an analysis very focused on the political implications of religious beliefs, he points out the way in which religion is explained through Lacanian psychoanalytic ideas.
If you are interested in the book, you can learn more about it here.
