Link to an article by Oliver Burkeman:
Author: Syd Fablo
Slavoj Žižek’s Influences
What follows is a brief list of major influences on the work of philosopher Slavoj Žižek.
The Big Three:
The Second Tier:
- Theodor Adorno (Žižek often directly adopts and repeats Adorno’s ideas uncited)
- Peter Sloterdijk
- Fredric Jameson
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau (another influence cited only occasionally that nonetheless tacitly informs a lot of Žižek’s work)
- Frantz Fanon
- Alain Badiou (his contemporary and friend, Žižek engages his ideas frequently but does not always fully agree)
Others:
- Walter Benjamin
- G.K. Chesterton (Žižek translated a lot of Chesterton, and for a long time frequently quoted him)
- Robespierre
- Karl Marx (Žižek usually invokes “Marxism” via Lenin and less often directly through Marx)
- Immanuel Kant
- F.W.J. Schelling
From the arts:
- Herman Melville (especially his short story, “Bartleby, The Scrivener”)
- Wagner
- Andrei Platonov
- Samuel Beckett
- Sophocles (especially “Antigone”)
- Bertolt Brecht (a less overt and explicit influence, but Žižek uses a lot of the same methods)
- Ernst Lubitsch
- Alfred Hitchcock
Fellow travelers (not influences as such): Alenka Zupancic, Mladen Dolar, Jodi Dean, Joan Copjec, Rex Butler
See also bibliography of overview books and “Slavoj Zizek – Key Ideas” and Žižek’s Ontology
Txema Guijarro – Selling Out Julian Assange
Link to an interview with Txema Guijarro, conducted by Eoghan Gilmartin and Tommy Greene:
Bonus links: “I Was Fired for Helping Julian Assange, and I Have No Regrets” and “The Guardian Forced to Clarify Misleading Article on Assange and Russia”
Peter Bratsis – Political Corruption Under Transnational Capitalism
Link to an article by Peter Bratsis:
“Political Corruption Under Transnational Capitalism: A Marxist View”
Michael Hudson – Food Blackmail, the Washington Consensus and Freedom
Link to an interview of Michael Hudson summarizing his essential books Super Imperialism and Trade, Development and Foreign Debt, conducted by Bonnie Faulkner:
“Food Blackmail, the Washington Consensus and Freedom” and
“De-Dollarizing the American Financial Empire”
This interview provides an excellent summary of many of the main points of Hudson’s books. For a latter-day treatment of a portion of these topics, see also The Global Minotaur and “Imperialism in a Coffee Cup.”
Peter Greene – Winners Take All, Education Edition
Link to a review by Peter Greene of Winners Take All: The Elite Charade of Changing the World (2018) by Anand Giridharadas:
“Winners Take All, Education Edition”
Bonus links: “Social Service or Social Change?” and “Education, Jobs and Capitalism” and Summary of Dupuy on Social Hierarchy and Slavoj Žižek On Political Struggle and “Democracy Is the Enemy” and Oscar Wilde Quote and Review of The New Prophets of Capital and Critique of Cynical Reason and “Winners Take All by Anand Giridharadas Review – Superb Hate-reading”
Ian Angus – Barry Commoner: The Systems We Depend on Are Upside Down
Link to an article/review by Ian Angus:
Donna Murch – Discussing the Black Panthers
Link to an interview with Donna Murch conducted by Shaun Harkin:
Nils Melzer – Demasking the Torture of Julian Assange
Link to an article by Nils Melzer:
“Demasking the Torture of Julian Assange”
Bonus links: “UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer Exposes Propaganda and Censorship in Assange Reporting” and “Collapse of Swedish ‘Sexual Misconduct’ Frame-up Exposes Political Conspiracy Against Assange” and Melzer September 2019 Report and “UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer: ‘With Censorship Inevitably Comes Tyranny'” and “UN Rapporteur Nils Melzer Exposes British Government Attempts to Obstruct His Defence of Assange” and “Spying on Assange: the Spanish Case Takes a Turn”
Mertonian CUDOS-norms
Link to Robert Merton’s four norms that constitute “four sets of institutional imperatives taken to comprise the ethos of modern science… communism, universalism, disinterestedness, and organized skepticism.” (CUDOS is the acronym):
(contrast that with this: “Neil deGrasse Tyson: A Celebrity Salesman for the Military-Industrial-Complex”)