DOCSLIB.ORG

Žižek in the Service of Critical Theology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

Canterbury Christ Church University’s repository of research outputs http://create.canterbury.ac.uk Copyright © and Moral Rights for this thesis are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder/s. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. Zoltaj, B. (2016) Zizek, Bonhoeffer and the revolutionary body: the sociological potential of critical theology. Ph.D. thesis, Canterbury Christ Church University. Contact: [email protected] ŽIŽEK, BONHOEFFER AND THE REVOLUTIONARY BODY: The Sociological Potential of Critical Theology by Bojan Koltaj Canterbury Christ Church University Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Acknowledgments I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Graduate School for their award of the University Research Scholarship, which has enabled me to carry out this research. I also wish to thank my supervisory panel, Dr Ralph Norman, Professor Bee Scherer and Professor Robert Beckford, for allowing me the space and freedom I needed and for their continued support and guidance from day one. Abstract This thesis explores the potential that lies in the engagement of critical theory and theology. Rather than a mere demonstration of how theology can be used in the service of critical theory, its original contribution is in the demonstration of theological self- reflective criticality that this engagement brings about. It therefore represents an attempt to further develop the potential of this engagement, by showing how critical theory can function as a resource for theological self-reflection. This is achieved through exploration of the method, function and effect of Slavoj Žižek’s materialist appropriation of theology for political thought. The resulting struggling universality of abandonment and its ethic of indifference challenging any notion of identity is then applied in examination of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s own social theology of a transcendental personalist community of saints and its ethic of universal love in Sanctorum Communio. Žižek’s community, grounded in the absence of God, draws attention to the theological character as never submitting to an identity but rather blurring the hypostasized boundaries between them irrevocably. It challenges Bonhoeffer’s community, grounded in and by God, as abstracting and suspending identities only through the creation of a new one. The thesis thus draws attention to and clarifies the full dimensionality of the necessary critical character of theology. Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Aim ................................................................................................................................... 1 The Object of Analysis: The Social Theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer ............................ 1 Religionless Christianity and the Death of God? ...................................................... 3 The Analyst: The Theological Materialism of Slavoj Žižek .......................................... 11 Theological Engagement with Žižek (Literature Survey) ....................................... 13 Further Engagement?............................................................................................... 17 Potential for Further Engagement ........................................................................... 22 Demonstrating the Sociological Import of Theology .............................................. 22 Critical Theory in the Service of Theology ............................................................. 25 Theoretical Framework: Critical Theory and Critical Theology .................................... 27 Critical Theory......................................................................................................... 27 Critical Theology ..................................................................................................... 29 Outline ............................................................................................................................ 34 Works Consulted, Referencing and Translation ............................................................. 37 Chapter 1: Žižek’s Intellectual Background .............................................................. 40 1.1 Žižek’s Intellectual Biography .................................................................................. 40 1.1.1 The beginning ................................................................................................. 40 1.1.2 International acclaim ...................................................................................... 45 1.2 Žižek’s Conceptual Framework ................................................................................ 48 1.2.1 Hegel according to Žižek and vice versa ........................................................ 48 1.2.2 Marx, Marxism and Žižek .............................................................................. 56 1.2.3 Žižek and Lacan ............................................................................................. 62 1.2.4 Concluding thought ........................................................................................ 74 1.3 The Context of Žižek’s Theological Engagement: post-Marxist critical theory ...... 76 1.3.1 Setting the scene ............................................................................................. 76 1.3.2 Marxism and theology as sociopolitical sojourners ....................................... 86 1.3.3 Western Marxism, theology and political critique ......................................... 89 1.3.4 Concluding thought ........................................................................................ 94 Chapter 2: Žižek’s Political Theology ......................................................................... 95 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 95 2.2 Badiou and Paul’s truth-event ................................................................................... 98 2.3 Christianity’s Perverse Core ................................................................................... 103 2.4 The Jewish Context of Christianity ........................................................................ 107 2.5 Christianity’s Subversive Element .......................................................................... 111 2.6 Dialectical Materialism ........................................................................................... 117 2.7 A theological overcoming of the constitutive exception ........................................ 120 2.7.1 Militant politics of external and contingent Grace ....................................... 122 2.7.2 Žižek’s Atonement: An act of madness that suspends the law .................... 124 2.8 The True Community .............................................................................................. 129 2.κ.1 Žižek’s Kierkegaardian suspension of the ethical ........................................ 132 2.8.2 The Other of the Neighbour ......................................................................... 135 Chapter 3: Bonhoeffer’s Intellectual Background ................................................... 141 3.1 Bonhoeffer’s Intellectual Biography ...................................................................... 141 3.1.1 From Berlin to Tübingen and back again ..................................................... 141 3.1.2 Postdoctoral academic and pastoral activities .............................................. 144 3.1.3 Union theological seminary .......................................................................... 145 3.1.4 The socio-political dimension of his theology ............................................. 148 3.1.5 Work in the Confessing Church and the letters from Tegel ......................... 150 3.2 The context of Bonhoeffer’s thought: modern theology ........................................ 157 3.2.1 Concluding thought ...................................................................................... 163 3.3 Bonhoeffer’s intellectual formation ........................................................................ 164 3.3.1 The philosophical influence of the theological faculty at the University of Berlin ..................................................................................................................... 165 3.3.2 Conclusion for the Berlin section ................................................................. 179 3.3.3 Supplementary note on the influence of Hegel ............................................ 180 3.3.4 Addendum: the influence of Karl Barth ....................................................... 183 Chapter 4: Žižek in the Service of Critical Theology .............................................. 191 4.1. A Žižekian reading of Sanctorum Communio ....................................................... 192 4.1.1 Introduction .................................................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Ernestogreg Dialogue

    Ernestogreg Dialogue

    Dear Ernesto Here are some thoughts about my increasing unease regarding ‘identity politics’ and the way it is entering public discussions. I am wondering what your responses would be….. I agree there is systemic privilege of particular groups over others and that this can be addressed at the political and social level. We can develop a society that is more open and egalitarian. But how do we do that? In America ‘identity politics’ is consuming the political narrative. Interactions are analysed in terms of who is privileged and who is oppressed. The ‘privileged’ person (based upon someone else’s analysis of their privilege) is almost always assumed to be wrong and their point of view (of whatever issue they are trying to present) invalid. The person from the ‘oppressed category’ of society is automatically right and to be listened to seriously. This form of ‘liberation’ is aggressive, bordering on scapegoating and it is beginning to resemble a witch hunt where only one point of view is tolerated. Any diversity of thought is attacked and silenced, but not just the point of view but the person expressing it. The viewpoint is wrong but so is the person. They are not ‘woke’, not aware, in the grip of their implicit and unconscious privilege. But they are not pitied, they are vilified. Why doesn’t everyone have the “privilege” to insist upon a determination to be heard exactly rather than stereotyped or caricatured. This form of ‘politics', I would say, is an overcorrection and open to abusive manipulation. It seems fuelled by the immediacy and superficiality of social media formats.
  • Education Specialization Teaching Experience

    Education Specialization Teaching Experience

    Clayton Crockett Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religion Director of Religious Studies Program University of Central Arkansas 201 Donaghey Avenue Conway, AR 72035 (501) 450-5506 [email protected] Education Ph.D., SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY, 1998, Department of Religion. Dissertation: "The Theological Sublime: Subjectivity, Temporality and Imagination in the Kantian Critique." Advisor: Charles E. Winquist. M.A., UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, 1994. Concentration: Philosophical Theology. B.A., COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY, 1991. Majors: Religion and History. Specialization Areas of Research Specialization: Contemporary Continental Philosophy of Religion, Modern and Contemporary Western Religious Thought, Postmodern Theology, Psychoanalytic Theory, Kantian Sublime. Areas of Teaching Competence: Modern and Contemporary Religious Thought and Philosophy, World Religions, Religion Science and Technology, Theories of Religion, Religion in America. Teaching Experience UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS, Conway, AR Fall 2014-Present Professor of Religious Studies Modern Religious Thought, Contemporary Religious Thought, Theories of Religion, Religion, Science and Technology, Postmodern Theology, Exploring Religion. UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS, Conway, AR Fall 2008-Spring 2014 Associate Professor of Religious Studies UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS, Conway, AR Fall 2003-Spring 2008 Assistant Professor of Religious Studies COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY, Williamsburg, VA Fall 2000-Spring 2001 Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion Introduction to Religion, Modern Religious Thought, Christianity, Roman Catholic Thought Since 1800. Administrative Experience Director of Religious Studies interdisciplinary major and minor, University of Central Arkansas, January 2008-present. Worked closely with Chair of Department of Philosophy and Religion on personnel, curriculum, assessment, advising, annual reports, ten-year self-study evaluation for accreditation, policies to conform to guidelines of Arkansas Department of Higher Education.
  • Karl Barth As a Postsecular Source

    Karl Barth As a Postsecular Source

    „Przegląd Religioznawczy – The Religious Studies Review”, 2017, no. 4 (266) MIŁOSZ PUCZYDŁOWSKI Pedagogical University Karl Barth As a Postsecular Source Abstract: The aim of this paper is to present Karl Barth as one of the most important sources of the contemporary post-secular turn in the Christian theology and philosophy. The paper will be divided into four parts. (1) First, I will present Barth's polemics with liberal theology of the 19th and 20th century. There his critique of religion, Christianity and idolatry is to be discussed. (2) Secondly, I want to describe Barth's influence on Gabriel Vahanian. My goal is to find Barth's ideas in some of the death of God theology strands. In my view, due to the Barthian inspirations, Vahanian, contrary to most of his secular fellows, initiated a post-secular turn in the very beginning of the death of God secular theology. (3) The next point will be to delineate the interpretation of Barth's theology of revelation made by Graham Ward. In Ward's view there is “a fundamental affinity” between Barth and postmodern thinkers. (4) That will contribute to the general, post-secular thesis, i.e.: any language is of a theological nature. I will try to present and accompany that Ward's point. Keywords: Barth, Vahanian, Ward, theology, postmodernism, discourse. Introduction To say Karl Barth has been one of the most important sources of the post-secular theology does not mean he was a post-secular or a postmodern theologian himself. Although Barth's attitude towards contemporary theological ideas is merely a matter of a pure speculation, I dare to say his approach would be very critical.
  • Critical Remarks on the Theoretical Significance of Vahanian’S Death of God Theology (Brief Review)

    Critical Remarks on the Theoretical Significance of Vahanian’S Death of God Theology (Brief Review)

    Andranik STEPANYAN UDC 2:13 Andranik STEPANYAN CRITICAL REMARKS ON THE THEORETICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF VAHANIAN’S DEATH OF GOD THEOLOGY (BRIEF REVIEW) Abstract The aim of this article is to briefly present and analyse in the context of radical theology the theoretical significance of Gabriel Vahanian’s death of God theology from the theological, philo- sophical and cultural viewpoints. Gabriel Vahanian was a French-Armenian distinguished theologi- an who played a significant role in the western religious, theological-philosophical thought. The main idea of Vahanian is that the death of God is a cultural phenomenon. God himself is not dead, but men’s religious and cultural perceptions about God are dead as modern man has lost the sense of transcendence and the presence of transcendent God. That is, the death of God means his absence in the modern world. The existence of God and his reality are not self-sufficient realities anymore but are irrelevant for modern people, hence dead. Keywords: radical theology, death of God theology, transcendent, immanent, religiosity, reli- gionism, religiousness, religious formalism, secularism, secularity. Introduction was widespread and all-inclusive which was manifested in various areas of political and In the world history, the XX century has conceptual, as well as spiritual life. An expres- been a period of unprecedented transfor- sion of this crisis was the radical thinking mations when humanity started facing myriads which found its reflection in philosophical, of serious problems. It is not accidental that the cultural, religious and theological thought. XX century was called “century of global German philosopher F. Nietzsche is the source problems”; issues the solution of which not of western radical thinking whose “God is only conditions the progress of humanity but dead” expression became the slogan of radical also the survival of human race in general.
  • 4 NAPTS Bulletin 38 4.JR

    4 NAPTS Bulletin 38 4.JR

    Bulletin The North American Paul Tillich Society Volume XXXVIII, Number 4 Fall 2012 Editor: Frederick J. Parrella, Secretary-Treasurer Religious Studies Department, Santa Clara University Kenna Hall, Suite 300, Room H, Santa Clara, California 95053 Associate Editor: Jonathan Rothchild, Loyola Marymount University Assistant to the Editor: Vicky Gonzalez, Santa Clara University Production Assistant: Alicia Calcutt Telephone: 408.554.4714/ 408.554.4547 FAX: 408.554.2387 Email: [email protected] Website: www.NAPTS.org/ Webmeister: Michael Burch, San Raphael, California _________________________________________________________________________ In this issue: Program for the Annual Meeting of the North American Paul Tillich Society and the AAR Group: Tillich: Issues in Theology, Religion, and Culture—Friday, November 16 to Tuesday, November 20, 2012, Chicago, Illinois. News about the Annual Banquet of the Society, Friday, November 16, 2012 Tillich Papers Reorganized New Publications on Tillich or by Members of the NAPTS In Memoriam: Gabriel Vahanian “Absolutes, Relativism, and Teaching Dynamics of Faith” by Derek R. Nelson “Tillich on Eros and Logos and the Beauty of Kant” by Brandon Love “God as Still Living: An Analysis of Paul Tillich’s Concept of the Divine Life in Light of Mark Taylor’s Infinitization of the Finite” by Adam Pryor “A New Human Being: The Religious Dimensions of Secularism in Cuban and Soviet Moralities” by Rose T. Caraway elcome to Chicago, location of the annual as our special guest, Dr. Mutie Tillich Farris of New W meeting of the North American Paul Tillich York City. Society and the meeting of the American Academy of Religion Group, “Tillich: Issues in Theology, Re- NORTH AMERICAN PAUL TILLICH SOCIETY ligion, and Culture.” The schedule of meetings for ANNUAL MEETING both groups follows.
  • From Human Being to Being Human

    From Human Being to Being Human

    GABRIEL VAHANIAN Université de Strasbourg FROM HUMAN BEING TO BEING HUMAN: AN IMPOSSIBLE SHORT-CUT A REVIEW ESSAY ON ELISABETH ROUDINESCO, RETOUR SUR LA QUESTION JUIVE Zion was built by the lord on the holy mountain, and he loves that city more than any other place in all of Israel. Zion, you are the city of God, and wonderful things are told about you. Egypt, Babylonia, Philistia, Phoenicia, and Ethiopia are some of those nations that know you, and their people all say, "I was born in Zion." God Most High will strengthen the city of Zion. Then everyone will say, "We were born here too." The LORD will make a list of his people, and all who were born here will be included. All who sing or dance will say, "I too am from Zion." —Psalm 87 Jesus replied, "There are some things that people cannot do, but God can do anything."—Luke 18: 27 I am the lord! There is nothing too difficult for me. I’ll come back next year at the time I promised, and Sarah will already have a son.—Genesis 18 :14 (Contemporary English Version) Foreword f Auschwitz, then no God. Except that, were it as plausible as it is lapidary, the hypothesis thus spelt out rests on the assumption that faith I is conditioned by some socio-historical process: an assumption that falls short of its biblical and more radical alternative, which plain English would JCRT 12.1 Spring 2012 115 VAHANIAN: Impossible Short-Cut 116 read: "If God, then no God is God." This biblical and more radical alternative rests on that critical as well as self-critical iconoclastic thrust of biblical faith which entails that no God is ever worshipped that, ontologically or logically, metaphysically or existentially, does not become an idol.
  • On the Genealogy of Morality. the Birth of Pessimism in Zapffe’S on the Tragic

    On the Genealogy of Morality. the Birth of Pessimism in Zapffe’S on the Tragic

    On the Genealogy of Morality... 75 ON THE GENEALOGY OF MORALITY. THE BIRTH OF PESSIMISM IN ZAPFFE’S ON THE TRAGIC SILVIYA SERAFIMOVA Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge, BAS [email protected] Abstract This article examines the genealogy of morality, as represented by the Norwegian philosopher and writer Peter Wessel Zapffe, as well as the way it affected the justification of his pessimism, which made him one of the most influential existentialists of the 20th century. Analyzing the complex relationships between so-called biological, social and (autotelic) metaphysical morality, which are explored against the background of four interest fronts (biological, social, autotelic and metaphysical fronts), I will clarify why Zapffe’s pessimism is irreducible to the one displayed by Schopenhauer since Zapffe provides a critical reception of Schopenhauer’s theory of tragic. Key words: Peter Wessel Zapffe, morality, existentialism, pessimism, On the Tragic Regardless of the fact that the conceptions of the Norwegian mountaineer, lawyer, writer and philosopher Peter Wessel Zapffe are not as well-known as the theories of Arne Naess, they had a significant influence on the development of Norwegian existentialism. In this context, we should specify why one should talk about Zapffe’s pessimism rather than Zapffe’s nihilism regardless of Nietzsche’s influence on his views of cultural degrowth, as well as of the possibility to draw some parallels with Nietzsche’s ‘melancholic metaphysics’ [1], as Haave suggests (Haave, 1999, pp. 236-237). Zapffe himself describes Nietzsche’s theory of tragic arguing that his “aesthetic-tragic desire” (“aestetisk-tragiske lyst”) is imprecisely interpreted (Zapffe, 1941, p.
  • Crisis & Critique Volume 2 / Issue I, 2015

    Crisis & Critique Volume 2 / Issue I, 2015

    C R I S I S & C R I T I Q CRISISU & E V O L. 2 I S S U E CRISIS & CRITIQUE#1 CRITIQUE CRISIS & CRITIQUE VOLUME 2 / ISSUE I, 2015 Dialectical Materialism Collective 1 Some Thoughts on the Divine Ex-sistence C Introduction 216 C R R I Hegelian Christology: From Kojeve to I S 12 Žižek, by Gabriel Tupinambá S I Some Thoughts on the Divine I S S Ex-sistence, by Slavoj Žižek 266 & Fichte in Reverse: From Onto-theology & 36 to Materialist Ontology, by Lidija Šumah C C R Confucius and Chairman Mao: R I Towards a Study of Religion and 284 I T T I Chinese Marxism, by Roland Boer The Problem of Evil and the Problem I Q of Legitimacy: On the Roots Future of Q CRISISU &56 Political Theology, by Adam Kotsko U E E Psychoanalysis, Religion, Love, V by Lorenzo Chiesa 300 V O Mysticism as Radical Political Action, O L. L. 2 76 by Catherine Tomas 2 What is Left to Imagine: The Privation I I S of the Absolute, by Felix Ensslin 326 S S Spirit and Utopia: (German) Idealism asS U 94 Political Theology, by Kirill Chepurin U E E #1 A prolegomena to an Emancipatory #1 Reading of Islam, by Sead Zimeri 350 Romanticism, Marxism and Religion in 114 the “Principle of Hope” of Ernst Bloch, CRISIS & CRITIQUEWhat Christians need no longer de- by Michael Löwy (translated by Rodrigo fend: The political stakes of considering Gonsalves) antinomianism as central to the practice and history of theology, by Colby Dickinson 356 Review articles: 152 J.Read: Initiation a la philosophie pour Revisiting a Marxist Encounter with les non-philosophes, by Louis Althusser Spinoza: Alexandre
  • Download (1MB)

    Download (1MB)

    Wotherspoon, Iain David (2016) Original sin: divine and symbolic violence in the turn to the Apostle Paul. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/7331/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Original Sin Divine and Symbolic Violence in the Turn to the Apostle Paul Iain David Wotherspoon B.D., M.Litt. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Theology and Religious Studies Theology and Religious Studies School of Critical Studies College of Arts University of Glasgow May 2016 © Iain Wotherspoon 2016 2 Abstract When we take a step back from the imposing figure of physical violence, it becomes possible to examine other structurally violent forces that constantly shape our cultural and political landscapes. One of the driving interests in the “turn to Paul” in recent continental philosophy stems from wrestling with questions about the real nature of contemporary violence. Paul is positioned as a thinker whose messianic experience began to cut through the violent masquerade of the existing order.
  • Paul Tillich and the Discourse of Political Theology

    Paul Tillich and the Discourse of Political Theology

    Paul Tillich and the Discourse of Political Theology Clayton Crockett University of Central Arkansas This paper puts the theology of Tillich in contact with the contemporary discourse of political theology. First, I will survey the development of radical theology from Tillich to the present, to show how his theology has influenced and inspired many of these expressions of radical theology. Second, I will sketch an overview of political theology from its classical locus in the work of Carl Schmitt to its contemporary expressions in Jacques Derrida and Giorgio Agamben. At the conclusion, I will return to Tillich, to show how attention to his works on Christian Socialism in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s offers a connection to and supplement of this idea of political theology. The theology of Paul Tillich exerts a spectral influence on radical theology, from the Death of God theology to the present resurgence of interest in radical theology. In this section, I want to briefly survey the development of radical theology, to construct a somewhat speculative genealogy. In the Preface to The Gospel of Christian Atheism, Thomas J.J. Altizer argues that Among twentieth century theologians, it was Tillich alone who made possible a way to a truly contemporary theology. While I have been forced to resist and oppose Tillich’s theological conclusions, I do so with the conviction that they are not yet radical enough, and the memory of Tillich’s words to me that the real Tillich is the radical Tillich.1 I agree with Altizer’s sentiments, because I think that Tillich’s theological conclusions appear clunky and out of date, including much of the language in which he expressed them.
  • The Nature of Norway Environmental Crises in Literature

    The Nature of Norway Environmental Crises in Literature

    The Nature of Norway Environmental Crises in Literature Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy in Culture, Environment and Sustainability Submitted by Tiina Ruohonen Centre for Development and the Environment University of Oslo Blindern, Norway October 2006 Table of Contents iii Acknowledgements v Chapter I: Themes and Theories 1 Introduction 1 The Nature of this Study 4 Chapter II: Native Wood and Way 17 Friluftsliv and the Countercultural Manifesto 17 The Norwegian Impasse 20 Nature is Culture 25 The Lonely Man 28 A Crusade of Existential Nihilism 34 Postscript 37 Chapter III: The Pastoral Recipe 39 The Becoming Body 39 Post-Apocalyptic Vitalism 42 Becoming through Cows, Identity by Dog 45 Amoral Authority 53 The Carnival of Flesh 57 Chapter IV: The Web of Life 59 Holistic Science and Fiction 59 The Apocalyptic End of Man and the Last of the Race 63 Myths of Holism: Ecology and Technology 70 The Dream of Biotic Unity 74 Chapter V: Conclusions and Commentaries 79 The Character of Our Crisis 79 References 89 Literature 89 Film 95 iii iv Acknowledgements I would like to thank everybody at the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. Special thanks to my mentor and supervisor Nina Witoszek. Thanks to Per Ariansen, Arne Kalland, and Frederic Hauge for lending me their time and minds. And thanks to the authors for writing books. Special thanks to my family for support; to Juha; to Ann-Kathrin for opening my eyes to innate nature where there seemed none.
  • Problemi International 2018 2.Pdf

    Problemi International 2018 2.Pdf

    20 Problemi International No. 2 2018 Problemi (Vol. LVI, Nos. 11–12/2018) ISSN 0555–2419 Problemi International (No. 2/2018) Edited by Simon Hajdini Copyedited by Eric Powell Editor-in-chief Alenka Zupančič [email protected] Managing Editor Mladen Dolar [email protected] Editorial Board Miran Božovič, Mladen Dolar, Simon Hajdini, Peter Klepec, Zdravko Kobe, Dragana Kršić, Gregor Moder, Tadej Troha, Alenka Zupančič, Slavoj Žižek. International Advisory Board Bernard Baas (Strasbourg), Alain Badiou (Paris), Rey Chow (Durham), Joan Copjec (Providence), Fredric Jameson (Durham), Catherine Malabou (Kingston, Paris), Robert Pfaller (Vienna), Eric L. Santner (Chicago), Thomas Wallgren (Helsinki). Publisher Društvo za teoretsko psihoanalizo / Society for Theoretical Psychoanalysis Igriška ulica 2 1000 Ljubljana SI – Slovenia EU www.problemi.si Cover Design: AOOA Layout: Klemen Ulčakar Problemi International is distributed free of charge. Table of Contents Slavoj Žižek Ibi Rhodus, Ibi Saltus!. 5 Jean-Pierre Dupuy Nuclear Deterrence and the Metaphysics of Time. 25 Zdravko Kobe Reason Reborn: Pietistic Motifs in Kant’s Moral Philosophy. 57 Jean-Michel Rabaté Laughing with Kafka after Promethean Shame . .89 Lidija Šumah Reason Inclined: Zones of Indifference in Schiller and Kant. .119 Yuval Kremnitzer Inside, The Real: Moses Mendelssohn’s Speculative Realism. .143 Aleš Bunta Self-Evidence Derailed: Descartes’s Cogito and its Anticipations. 165 Todd McGowan The Absent Universal: From the Master Signifier to the Missing Signifier. 195 Jure Simoniti A Certain Logic of Professing Love. 215 Rachel Aumiller Twice Two: Hegel’s Comic Redoubling of Being and Nothing. 253 Benjamin Noys “Freudful Mistakes”: On Forgetting and On Forgetting Psychoanalysis. 279 Abstracts . 297 Notes on Contributors .