tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post8399430844087148888..comments2023-10-30T12:26:15.822+01:00Comments on Research as a Second Language: The Ideological Violence of Slavoj ZizekThomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-33677942528545442542014-10-11T00:08:23.403+02:002014-10-11T00:08:23.403+02:00Yes, funny piece.Yes, funny piece.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-4402203376699169032014-10-10T23:53:23.521+02:002014-10-10T23:53:23.521+02:00Apparently a "non-issue"
http://www.cri...Apparently a "non-issue"<br /><br />http://www.critical-theory.com/zizeks-latest-plagiarism-scandal-in-a-non-issue/Jonathanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09371893596402673898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-13975719941443159112014-10-10T13:49:41.486+02:002014-10-10T13:49:41.486+02:00Thanks for the comment. I have to admit that I hav...Thanks for the comment. I have to admit that I have very little invested in Zizek's project (but a great deal in our shared scholarly standards). So I don't know how much better his earlier work is, though I do hear similar sentiments from others I talk to.<br /><br />I'm sure many people who end up as charlatans begin as competent practitioners of a craft. If what we learn from this is to read his earlier work carefully, and not pay attention to his current output, maybe that's good enough.<br /><br />Still, even understood as journalism, what he does to Muller here is pretty nasty, not to mention what he does to his (trusting) reader's understanding. One the things this case is getting me to think is that in so far as "ideological critique" or "a critique of the ideological subject" is necessary, then what is needed is precisely a critique of Zizek's rhetoric. Much more than we need Zizek's critique of Muller, in fact.Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04858865501469168339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10721624.post-69035624294825958542014-10-10T13:15:06.834+02:002014-10-10T13:15:06.834+02:00An excellent example of some of the slapdash metho...An excellent example of some of the slapdash methods of late-period Zizek. I find it particularly intriguing that the examples of plagiarism themselves (the Muller paragraphs and the American Renaissance passage) come from his works in the mid-late-2000s, when he was openly courting the popular audience that sustains him today through his documentaries. He wasn't always a pure ideologist in the sense you describe, writing philosophical polemics instead of creative philosophical engagements. He's become one. As his output was growing more prodigious and his sales larger, the temptation to write less like Zizek the creative theorist and more like the popular image of Zizek, what he presumed his regular audience wanted to hear, would similarly grow at this time.<br /><br />Perhaps this period really is the downfall of Zizek as a cultural critic. Because he is capable of genuine insight in his books. It isn't as though he's a pure charlatan. Indeed, I'm very skeptical of accusations of intellectual charlatanism and fakery because I've met some very doctrinaire and hostile philosophers in North America who use those terms to dismiss all philosophy influenced by phenomenology or structuralism as worthless shit that shouldn't be in their departments or universities. So I prefer to give Zizek at least some benefit of the doubt that fame has made his works samey, repetitive, and stuck in a rut. Despite the titles of his latest works like Living in the End Times suggesting an engagement with ecological crises, it was pretty much a rehash of the old themes. <br /><br />Philosophy is a creative discipline, and I think Zizek has opened up new possibilities for how a philosophical writer can engage with an audience. I've already said before, on my own blog, that I don't think the university system will be a home for the progressive philosophical tradition much longer (if it even is anymore), so we need to develop new norms to engage readers and interlocutors outside classrooms and campuses.<br /><br />While I think we're in need of a good shakeup when it comes to writing style and how we engage potential audiences, we do need to preserve or carry forward norms and attitudes of fair practice. I like that Zizek is a writer who has a reputation independent of his university department and academic discipline, and the reach to get people reading philosophical texts for fun. But that's the same compliment paid to J. K. Rowling for children's literature. Adam Riggiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14606510835439580828noreply@blogger.com