The Subject of Liberation The Subject of Liberation Žižek, Politics, Psychoanalysis Charles Wells NEW YORK • LONDON • NEW DELHI • SYDNEY Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc 1385 Broadway 50 Bedford Square New York London NY 10018 WC1B 3DP USA UK www.bloomsbury.com Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2014 © Charles Wells, 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wells, Charles H., 1978- The subject of liberation : Žižek, politics, psychoanalysis / Charles Wells. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-62356-368-4 (hardback) 1. Žižek, Slavoj. 2. Political science–Philosophy–History–20th century. 3. Radicalism. 4. Postmodernism. 5. Psychoanalysis–Political aspects. 6. Lacan, Jacques, 1901-1981. I. Title. JA71.W437 2014 320.01–dc23 2014006067 ISBN: HB: 978-1-6235-6368-4 ePub: 978-1-6235-6498-8 ePDF: 978-1-6235-6947-1 Typeset by Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Kate, your intelligence, patience and love are a daily inspiration. Contents Introduction: The Subject of Liberation 1 The Lacanian Left 3 Why Lacan? 5 Why Žižek? Why The Ticklish Subject? 7 Part 1 The Problem 15 1 How to Read the Ticklish Subject 17 I’m not yet writing a book 17 Look where it comes again, Horatio! 18 Žižek’s postmodern other 21 The Ticklish Subject: A drama 23 2 Leftist Philosophy and Lacan’s Theory of Character Structures 25 That old leftist problem 25 The deadlock of desire: Perversion vs. hysteria 26 The philosophy of perversion 29 The philosophy of hysteria 31 Acting out the doubt 33 The philosophy of obsessionality 35 Part 2 The Subject, Ideology and Psychoanalysis 39 3 The Žižekian Universal Subject 41 Psychoanalysis as liberation: Traversing the fantasy 41 Why Butler? 42 The anxious void of subjectivity: Žižek as a reader of Laplanche 44 The fundamental fantasy: Enjoyment, masochism, consistency 47 Žižek’s cogito: The Other doesn’t know, therefore I don’t know 50 4 Ideology: The Big Other, the Symbolic Mandate and the Social Superego 53 The big other 53 Interpellation: The subject’s symbolic mandate 55 viii Contents Superego: The return of enjoyment 57 The social superego 59 The perverse turn: How to have your cake and eat it too 61 5 Freedom and Responsibility: The Liberatory Promise of Lacanian Psychoanalysis 65 Defining liberation: Hamlet on the couch 65 Gertrude doesn’t know 66 Returning the question: The freedom to decide and responsibility for deciding 69 Others who are supposed: Traversing the social fantasy 70 Part 3 Contemporary Ideologies 75 6 The Problem of Postmodernity: A Life of Pleasures 77 Traditional ideology has been traversed… 77 And, in its place, postmodern ideology! 79 The postmodern ego-ideal: Buy two, get one free! 82 Liberal tolerant multiculturalism 84 7 The Postmodern Social Superego: Reflexive Sadomasochism 89 Enjoy your discipline! 89 Reflexive sadomasochism 90 Postmodern ideology’s traditional other 92 8 The Unholy Conspiracy: Postmodern Ideology and (Pseudo-)Fundamentalism 97 Fundamentalism, psychosis and the need for another framework 97 The really (non-)existing big Other 99 The other supposed to enjoy/believe 1: Misunderstanding postmodern ideology 102 The other supposed to enjoy/believe 2: Misunderstanding fundamentalism 104 The postmodern/fundamentalist pact: Stop believing and know! 107 Part 4 Going Through the Deadlock 111 9 Antagonism in the Real 113 Towards a definition of the post-analytic subject and the liberated society 113 Contents ix Antagonism in the real 115 Deciding how to decide 117 Infinitely proliferating perspectives: Aggravation and mediation 119 Warfare vs. recognition: A single structural divide 121 What aggravation points towards without knowing it 124 10 The Theory of the Four Fundamental Discourses 127 The four fundamental discourses: A mapping exercise 127 The discourses 129 The philosophies and their discourses 132 Correcting hysteria: Master yourself! 134 Correcting perversion: Acknowledge the void! 137 11 The Deadlock of Lacanian Ethics and the Analytic Moment 141 What are you taking responsibility for? 141 Ethics and the theory of character structures 143 Pre- and post-analytic subjects 146 A reflexive decision for responsibility 148 The role of the analyst 150 Part 5 Post-Analytic Subjects 153 12 The Post-Analytic Subject 1: The Analyst 155 Lacanian ethics: Support freedom and responsibility as such 155 The analyst 157 Disavowal and responsibility? 159 What are you disavowing? 161 13 The Post-Analytic Subject 2: The Lover 165 The deadlock of desire vs. the deadlock of drive 165 The ethics of drive: I Love You! 167 What discourse is love? 170 14 Post-Analytic Philosophies 175 Combined starting assumptions 175 The beloved object: Anne Frank and John Brown vs. multiculturalism 177 The politics of prescription and the Nazi Henchman 179 The beloved object is the subject 181