Žižek’s Most Difficult Idea
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- Опубликовано: 29 мар 2025
- “Less than nothing” is arguably Slavoj Žižek’s most difficult idea. In this video I attempt to provide a basic introduction.
Thanks for watching,
Julian
#slavojzizek #zizek #lacan #hegel #philosophy #psychoanalysis
Here are some study-aids that might be helpful:
Žižek’s ontology combines the Hegelian/Materialist/Lacanian Ontology
“Less than nothing” is the conceptual framework by which Žižek uses the logic of the “objet a” to stage a materialist re-reading of the Hegelian ontology.
4 ontologies:
(1) Žižek: every universal is marked by a fundamental antagonism or difference which appears to undermine it yet nevertheless completes it.
(2)Hegel: The Fall retroactively generates that from which it is falling
(3)Lacan: loss as it’s own object (or the transition from desire to drive, or from loss as the object of desire to lack as the object of drive.
(4)Materialism: nothing counted as something.
In sum: for Žižek the subject is the one who stages the gap immanent to the universal, by which the universal is both undermined and yet stitched together (suture). This mirrors the logic of the “objet a” or the transition from desire to drive. The idealist logic functions on the level of desire (loss), whereas the materialist logic functions on the level of lack (drive). Žižek argues therefore that Hegel is not a “mystical” idealist, but in fact what might be called the first materialist.
The psychoanalytic logic of the objet a can therefore be combined with a materialist rereading of Hegel as a thinker of radical ontological openness. I.e. a Hegel of the logic of the signifier, or pure possibility.
Tomorrow I’ll make a video explaining why this makes Hegel arguably “the first materialist.”
For more, see my ebooks on patreon. www.patreon.com/julianphilosophy
Hope that helps!
Julian
PS: apologies for the background noise. Our dog “Molly” was a bit hyperactive today.
Thanks! This is your most brilliant talk.
Really appreciate these short lectures! I always wanted to understand these famous and interesting concepts. This is the best way to finally do so
I have given it more thought, and this is my interpretation (without so much technical jargon):
With the model explained in the video, we can answer these two questions at the same time:
How did something come from nothing, and what is consciousness?
Now we can re-frame the question slightly. How does consciousness arise from nothingness? Answer: consciousness or subjectivity is the negation of negativity, or less than nothing. Nothing exists outside of subjectivity, in both senses of the word. Consciousness produces existence and experience by subtracting/dividing from the void of “pure essence” or objectivity.
So those two original questions have to go together. In the beginning there was no time or space, and there still is no time or space in pure objectivity! Time and space, or existence as we know it, is produced by consciousness operating within that eternal void to divide the unity into existence. Existence is a broken unity, or a negation of the original negative unity, creating a positive(?)
We basically divided zero by zero. That’s why it’s so hard to compute. The theory is that positivity, or existence, must be the negation of negation, that is the only way to get something from nothing. God divided himself by zero to create the universe, and that is us, that is subjectivity. We are the fractions of zero, the fractions of god, the fractions of unity.
This all sounds crazy, but the four ontologies in the video help to prove the point and clarify the claim. Thanks for reading!
or the four ontologies is made up of zizek's theory and 3 different misreadings of different thinkers. Zizek found a connection between different thinkers which is an achievement I think. His interpretation of what that connection means though is up for debate.
This is absolutely incomprehensible.
I agree, it was to me at first, and I’m somewhat familiar with these topics! It’s never going to make sense until you realize what these ideas are for. And you have to ask questions. Like, what is he calling less than nothing?
The ideas in the video are ontological, or relating to reality/existence itself. That is the frame in which they are relevant. The philosophical project here is like creating a theory of everything, by combining four theories into one. So if you’ve ever wondered why we exist, or why anything exists, or how existence exists as opposed to an eternal void, this video is an introduction to the best way we currently have of answering those kinds of ultimate questions.
So, yes it’s incomprehensible at first, but it’s just an introduction to something even bigger. If you really want to know, you can go down the rabbit hole, but if not, you don’t necessarily need to know any of this stuff.
Unfortunately true I tried very hard but even the examples never made sense either
Acho que sim! Juliano precisa melhorar de muito essa nova síntese de Hegel, Lacan e esse misterioso objeto a..
Aguardemos...
It can take years for a "normal" amateur like me to understand these ideas and their great importance. Maybe you are in this category. Persevere!
@@pritch481 you've taken years to convince yourself a naked man is wearing the most beautiful clothes.
Hi Jules could you try redo this as a whiteboard session? I need a visual to keep up😢
I was wearing headphones and was freaking out thinking someone was trying to get into my window & people walking around next door lmao
Thank you for your brilliant effort to make the difficult accessible. I have read practically all the books by Zizek and I keep reading them because it is not easy to assimilate a dialectic Hegelian way of thinking. But of course it is crucial. Thanks again!
3:28 "Antagonism and difference is precisely what structures the void." Brilliant, and this aligns with what we know about the void from QFT, the void is not dead and inert but rather unrelentingly roiling!
Julien sounds like he has been studying the art of edgy Batman voice in this one.
Quality information sir, truly appreciate it. I've learned so much through you. ❤
Jenaline is remodeling part of the house, and I’ve got some major allergies going on 👍
This is what I get:
If we isolated substance (universal) there would be no point from which to distinguish or conceptually establish its nature this implies an ontological stasis, a void. An opposition is needed for substance to be conceptualized.
There can be no concept of substance without the negation of it through non-substantiality (particulars) and the intellectual capacities of the subject. Yet, for the subject, substance can only exist as a fiction, because if substance were absolutely actualized the subject would cease and thus the conceptual framework for the notion of substance too, here lies the retroactivity. It's not that the subject follows as a result of a sequential/hierarchical fall from the supposed integrity of substantial reality (pre-ontological void), but it's posited as a fundamental gap, a negation of a fiction (actualized substance, the void which would negate else-ness) that is part of its indetermination.
So, for Žižek, subjectivity is fundamental to "reality" not as a positive entity but as a double negation: a negation of something that does not exist (is not instantiated) however, acts and has effective material consequences just as the petit object "a" operates as an object without being a positive entity.
You just get better and better.
Thank the Absolute there's a transcript for my puny brain to meticulously refer to.
God I love these videos
My favorite part of this video is how someone assembled an entire IKEA dining table while operating the camera.
That's the negation being negated.
All I got from this is that Patrick Bateman has an unopened Tech-Deck on his shelf
Suggest me the source of this idea..the book and also the prerequisites to understand this nearly unintelligible piece...someone please
I think my goal is to one day in response to this video think “err yeah like durrr what else would it be”.
The more I try to understand this, the less I see how it is relevant to me or anyone in the world. Why is this idea important? What are its implications? Can anyone help me here?
it doesn't relate to the world, it just relates to how these systems of ideas relate to each other. there isn't a truth value or correspondence with reality, best as I can tell. Its like a sort of abstract poetry, it is interesting rather than useful.
I have given it more thought, and this is my interpretation (without so much technical jargon):
With the model explained in the video, we can answer these two questions at the same time:
How did something come from nothing, and what is consciousness?
Now we can re-frame the question slightly. How does consciousness arise from nothingness? Answer: consciousness or subjectivity is the negation of negativity, or less than nothing. Nothing exists outside of subjectivity, in both senses of the word. Consciousness produces existence and experience by subtracting/dividing from the void of “pure essence” or objectivity.
So those two original questions have to go together. In the beginning there was no time or space, and there still is no time or space in pure objectivity! Time and space, or existence as we know it, is produced by consciousness operating within that eternal void to divide the unity into existence. Existence is a broken unity, or a negation of the original negative unity, creating a positivity.
We basically divided zero by zero. That’s why it’s so hard to compute. The theory is that positivity, or existence, must be the negation of negation, that is the only way to get something from nothing. God divided himself by zero to create the universe, and that is us. We are the fractions of zero, the fractions of god, the fractions of unity.
This all sounds crazy, but the four ontologies in the video help to prove the point and clarify the claim. Thanks for reading!
What is happening
On fire 🔥
please more lacan!
What is less than nothing but more than everything???
What is the definition of the Void in the mentioned context?
Void as pre-ontological pure void = substance
Void as (impure) conceptualized substance = “nothing”
@@julianphilosophy Thank you very much!
I've never beaten Half Life 2 for that very reason.
I still don’t get it, why is it materialist? Because regardless of any subjectivity apprehending it, the structure of subjectivity is required for concepts in themselves to exist through the failure to comprehend that is subjectivity?
It feels like you are repeating yourself in many of your zizek videos
If an idea claims to be universal then it should be constantly appearing in all debates of other ideas. And if it doesn't appear, then it isn't universal and we should stop calling it as such.
man what is going on in the background hahah. Great video though
Julian, pls speak louder
What a lot of babbling.