Academia should retain its useless character to provide a space for free thinking and debate.
A more radical approach is needed to address ecological crises, digital control, and manipulation of society.
Rethinking communism should incorporate elements of chance, lottery, and prevention of expert rule to solve modern challenges.
Deep dives
The Role of Academics in Independent Thinking
Academics in the UK have become conformist and lack genuine critical thinking due to growing commercialism and lack of debate on complex topics like Brexit. The academic system in Yugoslavia during the 1980s was better as it had not yet faced economic failure and had some pragmatic governments. However, academia should retain its useless character and not focus on solving immediate societal problems, as the true value of academia lies in providing a space for free thinking and debate.
The Potential for Communist Politics Today
The potential for communist politics today is uncertain, and the previous attempts in the 20th century can be seen as failures. Slavoj Žižek admires Lenin's pragmatic, voluntarist spirit during a desperate time, but he does not advocate for a return to Leninism. He suggests starting from scratch and learning from the failures and limitations of past communism. Žižek believes that a more radical approach is needed to address the serious threats of ecological crises, digital control, and the manipulation of society.
Critique of the Hegelian Paradigm
Žižek criticizes the Hegelian paradigm that sees crisis as harboring the seeds of its own resolution, arguing that capitalism has shown the ability to absorb and feed on its own crises. He believes that the danger lies not in crisis itself, but in the ravaging effects of global capitalism. Žižek suggests that new models of revolution need to be developed that go beyond falling into the trap of either blindly following or completely rejecting previous paradigms.
The Need for Rethinking Communism
The speaker discusses the need to rethink communism in the face of modern challenges such as global migrations, digital domination, and ecological crises. He argues that the existing liberal, democratic capitalist system is unable to cope with these problems. Rather than returning to the old models of communism, he advocates for a more radical rethinking that incorporates elements of chance, lottery, and prevention of expert rule. The speaker acknowledges the failures of twentieth-century communism, particularly stalinism, and emphasizes the importance of learning from the past and finding solutions for a more modest and authentic future society.
The Importance of Diverse Political Movements
The speaker highlights the significance of diverse political movements and the need to address the concerns of impoverished white workers who are susceptible to right-wing ideologies. He criticizes the left's focus on identity politics and advocates for a more inclusive approach to mobilizing support. The speaker discusses figures like Greta Thunberg and Julian Assange as potential catalysts for change, but expresses pessimism about their impact in the face of powerful establishment forces. He suggests that a political party speaking to the concerns of the working class, without falling into traditional marxist frameworks, could help bridge the gap between different segments of society.
This bonus episode features audio from the Holberg Debate in Bergen, Norway between Tyler and Slavoj Žižek held on December 7, 2019. They discuss the reasons Slavoj (still) considers himself a Communist, why he calls TheHandmaid’s Tale “nostalgia for the present,” what he likes about Greta Thunberg, what Marx got right about the commodification of beliefs, his concerns about ecology and surveillance in communist states like China today, the reasons academia should maintain its ‘useless character,’ his beginnings as a Heideggerian, why he is distrustful of liberal optimism, the “Fukuyama dilemma” we face, the importance of “empty manners,” and more.
