castorp278 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

And what is his basic premise, principle ? That EVERYTHING has some kind of hidden, unconscious, implicite, contrary meaning ? If it is so one sholud neve sleep because the enemy is ačways watching (paranoid philosophy).

castorp278 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

And did not the skeptics use the same method, arguments pro and contra with the same strength of validity (or non-validity). Nobody liked the skeptics because they were subverzive, just like Žižek (he follows Derrida here I belive).

castorp278 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

He is not a contrarian ? He opposes the ordinary concept of love (love is good) with his contary concept (love is evil). It's so obvious. You can take his example with the sound of music as well.

castorp278 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

He is a living proof that an intelligent man can be really stupid. And he would probably agree with this : if love is evil, then intelligence is probably stupidity.

castorp278 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Finally, if love is evil then hate is probably good or there is no difference between them. Is Žižek send by the devil himself? No wonder he has a picture of Stalin in his appartment. His philosophy is one big and dangerous overreacting.

castorp278 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

''Love for me is an extremely violent act'',Žižek. So,Hitler probably loved jews, israelians probably love palestinians and they send them lovely air-mail that killes hundreds of people. What is this guy talking about?As a philosopher he should be more carefull with the words he is using. Otherwise one could end up talking nonsense which is excatly what he is doing here.

castorp278 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I will posto you my comment on his thesis that love is evil.

huwlemmey (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I don't think you're accurate here- he's not a contrarian at all- although I'm sure the idea of paradox is pretty important to understand his work. I think his main message is exposing the ideology inherent in society. To do this you MUST expose contradictions between what is said and what is inferred. He echoes false consciousness when he calls his book 'For the know not what they do' - I can't remember the Marx quote along these lines- something like 'They do, even though they do not know'

huwlemmey (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Well I think his infamous 'Love is Evil' comment is far from sceptical- what he's opposing here is this liberal notion that it is even possible to be filled with love for the world, that love is a pacifying universality- what he's saying is that love is the result of great imbalance, that love for a person is very exclusive, is a violent act towards the rest of the world.

castorp278 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

In other words, isn't Žižžek's methodological approach postmodern approach par excellance ?