This book is the first volume to bring together the most prominent scholars who work on Slavoj i ek's philosophy, examining and interrogating his understanding of dialectical materialism. It deserves to be thoroughly and systematically elaborated because it attempts to propose a new foundation for dialectical materialism.

Agon Hamza offers an in-depth analysis of the main thesis of Louis Althusser's philosophical enterprise alongside a clear, engaging dissection of Pier Paolo Pasolini's most important films. There is a philosophical, religious, and political relationship between Althusser's philosophy and Pier Paolo Pasolini's films. Hamza teases out the points of contact, placing specific focus on critiques of ideology, religion, ideological state apparatuses, and the class struggle. The discussion, however, does not address Althusser and Pasolini alone. Hamza also draws on Spinoza, Hegel, Marx, and Zizek to complete his study. Pasolini's films are a treasure-trove of Althusserian thought, and Hamza ably employs Althusserian terms in his reading of the films. Althusser and Pasolini provides a creative reconstruction of Althusserian philosophy, as well as a novel examination of Pasolini's film from the perspective of the filmmaker's own thought and Althusser's theses.

Repeating Zizek offers a serious engagement with the ideas and propositions of philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Often subjecting Zizek's work to a Zizekian analysis, this volume's contributors consider the possibility (or impossibility) of formalizing Zizek's ideas into an identifiable philosophical system. They examine his interpretations of Hegel, Plato, and Lacan, outline his debates with Badiou, and evaluate the implications of his analysis of politics and capitalism upon Marxist thought. Other essays focus on Zizek's approach to Christianity and Islam, his "sloppy" method of reading texts, his relation to current developments in neurobiology, and his theorization of animals. The book ends with an afterword by Zizek in which he analyzes Shakespeare's and Beckett's plays in relation to the subject. The contributors do not reach a consensus on defining a Zizekian school of philosophy-perhaps his idiosyncratic and often heterogeneous ideas simply resist synthesis-but even in their repetition of Zizek, they create something new and vital. Contributors. Henrik Joker Bjerre, Bruno Bosteels, Agon Hamza, Brian Benjamin Hansen, Adrian Johnston, Katja Kolsek, Adam Kotsko, Catherine Malabou, Benjamin Noys, Geoff Pfeifer, Frank Ruda, Oxana Timofeeva, Samo Tomsic, Gabriel Tupinamba, Fabio Vighi, Gavin Walker, Sead Zimeri, Slavoj Zizek

Repeating Zizek offers a serious engagement with the ideas and propositions of philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Often subjecting Zizek's work to a Zizekian analysis, this volume's contributors consider the possibility (or impossibility) of formalizing Zizek's ideas into an identifiable philosophical system. They examine his interpretations of Hegel, Plato, and Lacan, outline his debates with Badiou, and evaluate the implications of his analysis of politics and capitalism upon Marxist thought. Other essays focus on Zizek's approach to Christianity and Islam, his "sloppy" method of reading texts, his relation to current developments in neurobiology, and his theorization of animals. The book ends with an afterword by Zizek in which he analyzes Shakespeare's and Beckett's plays in relation to the subject. The contributors do not reach a consensus on defining a Zizekian school of philosophy-perhaps his idiosyncratic and often heterogeneous ideas simply resist synthesis-but even in their repetition of Zizek, they create something new and vital. Contributors. Henrik Joker Bjerre, Bruno Bosteels, Agon Hamza, Brian Benjamin Hansen, Adrian Johnston, Katja Kolsek, Adam Kotsko, Catherine Malabou, Benjamin Noys, Geoff Pfeifer, Frank Ruda, Oxana Timofeeva, Samo Tomsic, Gabriel Tupinamba, Fabio Vighi, Gavin Walker, Sead Zimeri, Slavoj Zizek

Agon Hamza offers an in-depth analysis of the main thesis of Louis Althusser's philosophical enterprise alongside a clear, engaging dissection of Pier Paolo Pasolini's most important films. There is a philosophical, religious, and political relationship between Althusser's philosophy and Pier Paolo Pasolini's films. Hamza teases out the points of contact, placing specific focus on critiques of ideology, religion, ideological state apparatuses, and the class struggle. The discussion, however, does not address Althusser and Pasolini alone. Hamza also draws on Spinoza, Hegel, Marx, and Zizek to complete his study. Pasolini's films are a treasure-trove of Althusserian thought, and Hamza ably employs Althusserian terms in his reading of the films. Althusser and Pasolini provides a creative reconstruction of Althusserian philosophy, as well as a novel examination of Pasolini's film from the perspective of the filmmaker's own thought and Althusser's theses.

Religion has always been an object of philosophical analysis and a platform for political practice. Philosophical thinking is unimaginable without its relation to religion, whether it negates or affirms the latter. Indeed, religion serves as a condition for philosophy. Althusser and Theology intends not so much to fill a gap in Althusser scholarship as to contribute to the contemporary radical left.

Fredric Jameson's pathbreaking essay "An American Utopia" radically questions standard leftist notions of what constitutes an emancipated society. Advocated here are-among other things-universal conscription, the full acknowledgment of envy and resentment as a fundamental challenge to any communist society, and the acceptance that the division between work and leisure cannot be overcome. To create a new world, we must first change the way we envision the world. Jameson's text is ideally placed to trigger a debate on the alternatives to global capitalism. In addition to Jameson's essay, the volume includes responses from philosophers and political and cultural analysts, as well as an epilogue from Jameson himself. Many will be appalled at what they will encounter in these pages-there will be blood! But perhaps one has to spill such (ideological) blood to give the Left a chance.