The main theme of this book is the hidden violence of the norm, which the author considers a kind of «perpetual motion machine», the source of various forms of visible violence. They, in turn, are only reactions to this vicious order of things. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek is persuasive and very thorough; the plasticity of his speech is mesmerizing.
The main theme of this book is the hidden violence of the norm, which the author considers a kind of «perpetual motion machine», the source of various forms of visible violence. They, in turn, are only reactions to this vicious order of things. The Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek is persuasive and very thorough; the plasticity of his speech is mesmerizing. But Žižek’s method can be reduced to one thing: look closely and you will see something completely different from what you have seen so far. The method is universal and regularly destroys any evidence — be it high moral principles, the concept of tolerance or the significance of the cultural revolution in China. This, however, is also its weakness. First, total doubt dooms the author to relativism; Žižek «on himself» once again proves that morality is a kind of limitation. Secondly, all the overturning method can be reversed on itself. Let it be true that some brutally destroyed millions of people do not mean at all what others (often arising reasoning). But who said that meaning is more important than millions or, more broadly, that the inner is more important than the outer, the roots are more important than fruits? The stories of losing a wallet and losing a child may be very similar, but they are completely different stories. The book «On Violence» is an intellectual provocation, a challenge to the world order. The reflections it evokes are undoubtedly useful and fascinating.
Europe, 184 p.