The Privatization of Hope SIC stands for psychoana‑ lytic interpretation at its most elementary: no dis‑ covery of deep, hidden meaning, just the act of drawing attention to the litterality [sic!] of what pre‑ cedes it. A sic reminds us that what was said, in‑ clusive of its blunders, was effectively said and cannot be undone. The series SIC thus explores different connections to the Freud‑ ian field. Each volume pro‑ SIC vides a bundle of Lacanian interventions into a spe‑ A cific domain of ongoing theoretical, cultural, and series ideological‑p olitical battles. It is neither “pluralist” edited nor “socially sensitive”: unabashedly avowing its by exclusive Lacanian orienta‑ tion, it disregards any form Slavoj of correctness but the inherent correctness of Žižek theory itself. THe Ernst Bloch and PrIvaTIzaTIon the Future of Utopia of HoPe Peter Thompson and Slavoj Žižek, editors sic 8 DUkE UnIvErSITy PrESS Durham and London 2013 © 2013 Duke University Press. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America on acid‑f ree paper ♾ Typeset in Sabon by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging‑i n‑ Publication Data The privatization of hope : Ernst Bloch and the future of Utopia / Peter Thompson and Slavoj Žižek, eds. pages cm—(sic ; 8) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978‑0‑8223‑5575‑5 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn 978‑0‑8223‑5589‑2 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Bloch, Ernst, 1885–1977—Political and social views. 2. Utopias. i. Thompson, Peter, 1960 July 22– ii. Žižek, Slavoj. iii. Series: sic (Durham, n.C.) ; 8. b3209.b754p75 2013 193—dc23 2013025251 In memoriam Jan robert Bloch 1937–2010 Contents Acknowledgments xi note on Editions and Translations xiii Slavoj Žižek, Preface xv Peter Thompson, Introduction: The Privatization of Hope and the Crisis of Negation 1 1 Wayne Hudson, Bloch and a Philosophy of the Proterior 21 2 vincent Geoghegan, An Anti-h umanist Utopia? 37 3 Johan Siebers, Ernst Bloch’s Dialectical Anthropology 61 4 Peter Thompson, Religion, Utopia, and the Metaphysics of Contingency 82 5 roland Boer, The Privatization of Eschatology and Myth: Ernst Bloch vs. Rudolph Bultmann 106 6 Catherine Moir, The Education of Hope: On the Dialectical Potential of Speculative Materialism 121 7 Caitríona ní Dhúill, Engendering the Future: Bloch’s Utopian Philosophy in Dialogue with Gender Theory 144 8 Frances Daly, The Zero- Point: Encountering the Dark Emptiness of Nothingness 164