In Defense of Lost Causes

Is global emancipation a lost cause? Are universal values outdated relics of an earlier age? In this combative major new work, philosophical sharpshooter Slavoj Zizek takes on the reigning ideology with a plea that we should re-appropriate several 'lost causes,' and looks for the kernel of truth in the 'totalitarian' politics of the past. Examining Heidegger"s seduction by fascism and Foucault"s flirtation with the Iranian Revolution, he suggests that these were the 'right steps in the wrong direction.' Highlighting the revolutionary terror of Robespierre, Mao and the Bolsheviks, Zizek argues that while these struggles ended in historic failure and monstrosity, this is not the entire story. There was, in fact, a redemptive moment that gets lost in the outright liberal-democratic rejection of revolutionary authoritarianism and the valorization of soft, consensual, decentralized politics. Zizek claims that, particularly in the light of the forthcoming ecological crisis, we should reinvent revolutionary terror and the dictatorship of the proletariat in the struggle for universal emancipation. We need to courageously accept the return to this cause'"even if we court the risk of a catastrophic disaster. In the words of Samuel Beckett: 'Try again. Fail again. Fail better.'

A monument to imaginative, risk-taking and rigorous scholarship.

"Exhilarating, inspiring, thought-provoking." David Schneider

"Addictively eclectic ... He contrives to leave the reader, as usual, both exhilarated and disoriented, standing in the middle of a scorched plain strewn with the rubble of smashed idols." Prospect

Outrageous, provocative and entertaining. --Terry Eagleton

The most dangerous philosopher in the West. --Adam Kirsch

A wealth of political and philosophical insight. --Terry Eagleton

"Outrageous, provocative and entertaining." Steven Poole The Guardian

"The most dangerous philosopher in the West." Terry Eagleton

In this combative major new work, philosophical sharpshooter Slavoj Žižek looks for the kernel of truth in the totalitarian politics of the past.

Examining Heidegger’s seduction by fascism and Foucault’s flirtation with the Iranian Revolution, he suggests that these were the ‘right steps in the wrong direction.’ On the revolutionary terror of Robespierre, Mao and the bolsheviks, Žižek argues that while these struggles ended in historic failure and horror, there was a valuable core of idealism lost beneath the bloodshed.

A redemptive vision has been obscured by the soft, decentralized politics of the liberal-democratic consensus. Faced with the coming ecological crisis, Žižekk argues the case for revolutionary terror and the dictatorship of the proletariat. A return to past ideals is needed despite the risks. In the words of Samuel Beckett: ‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better.’

Acclaimed, adrenalin-fuelled manifesto for universal values by 'the most dangerous philosopher in the West.'

Slavoj iekis a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.