“The safest general characterization of the European philosophical tradition is that it consists of a series of footnotes to Plato.”
–Alfred North Whitehead

Žižek on the worldlessness of global capitalism

He nails it (from a recent column in the London Review of Books about the UK riots):

“Alain Badiou has argued that we live in a social space which is increasingly experienced as ‘worldless’: in such a space, the only form protest can take is meaningless violence. Perhaps this is one of the main dangers of capitalism: although by virtue of being global it encompasses the whole world, it sustains a ‘worldless’ ideological constellation in which people are deprived of their ways of locating meaning. The fundamental lesson of globalisation is that capitalism can accommodate itself to all civilisations, from Christian to Hindu or Buddhist, from West to East: there is no global ‘capitalist worldview’, no ‘capitalist civilisation’ proper. The global dimension of capitalism represents truth without meaning.”

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Comments

2 responses to “Žižek on the worldlessness of global capitalism”

  1. astrotometry Avatar

    So is there a power-line outside the window?

  2. Louis Avatar
    Louis

    This worldless concept is way too intellectual to connect itself to real life and tangible human relation on a day to day basis; this time around Mr. Zizek went over the top trying to crystalise in words some very fluid situations and events that are in the making and that nobody…stress nobody, can predict the outcome… Any understanding needs good observation and time perspective, Mr Zizek seems to lack both at this moment.

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