Žižek And So On Žižek's Concrete Eurocentrism w/ Matthew Flisfeder
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Sep 23, 2025 In this engaging discussion, Matthew Flisfeder, a communications professor and author, delves into Žižek’s take on Eurocentrism and concrete universality. He explains how universality arises from conflicts within particulars and examines the political implications of these ideas. The conversation also covers Žižek's 'super-anthropocentrism' and critiques on Althusser's anti-humanism. Flisfeder wraps up with a compelling discussion on geoengineering, emphasizing the necessity for global legal coordination in environmental action.
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Concrete Universality Includes The Subject
- Concrete universality grounds the subject within analysis rather than pretending to an abstract, objective standpoint.
- Žižek includes his position of enunciation to reveal internal splits in particulars and access universal claims.
Strategic Eurocentrism As Concrete Positioning
- Žižek's Eurocentrism is strategic: defend progressive European traditions while remaining self-critical of colonialism.
- Positioning in Europe lets him assess global conjunctures from a concrete, split particularity.
Particulars Are Split Internally
- Concrete universality reads a particular against itself, revealing internal antagonisms rather than subsuming particulars under a transcendental whole.
- Class struggle can be reframed as conflicts over projects that constitute the good society within each particular.
