Lilian Munk Rösing

Henrik Jøker Bjerre

Brian Benjamin Hansen

Kirsten Hyldgaard

Jakob Rosendal

What are we doing when taking psychoanalysis from the couch to the analysis of society, culture, and arts? How is it possible to do so? How is it possible to move from singular experiences to universal structures detected in culture and society? Could psychoanalysis applied to art works become more sensitive to their aesthetics form? Psychoanalysis is often disclaimed as non-scientific, since its main object – the unconscious – has no positive existence. This book, however, proposes psychoanalysis to be a “science of the signifier”. It takes as its object the signifier – the signifying part of the sign – insisting that it always says more (or less) than intended, because its very materiality carries unintended messages. By defining the object of psychoanalysis as the signifier, this volume argues that we can speak of psychoanalysis as a science, even if it is closer to semiotics than biology. Analysing the Cultural Unconscious builds on this idea by arguing that the analysis of the signifier is the way to understand not only the individual unconscious, but also the cultural one. Replacing a person's monologue on the couch with ideology criticism or a piece of art, applied psychoanalysis allows us to analyse culture and the arts in a new way, uncovering the cultural unconscious.

Science of the Signifier

Analysing the Cultural Unconscious

Carsten Bagge Lausten

*The Subject of Politics* provides a new study of Slavoj Zizek's political philosophy. Focusing on the combination of psychoanalytic theory and philosophy, the book offers an overview of Zizek's analysis of contemporary society. In five chapters, the reader is introduced to Zizek's method, his view of the political impasse in the postmodern world, and his suggestion for a way ahead to renewed action and political invention. Rich in examples, the book gives an engaging and entertaining tour around the landscape of Zizek's political endeavour, while at the same time insisting on a more systematic and piecemeal approach than the Slovenian tends to offer himself.

Slavoj Žižek's Political Philosophy

The Subject of Politics: Slavoj Zizeks Political Philosophy

Carsten Bagge Laustsen

A study of Slavoj Å1⁄2iÅ3⁄4ek'¿¿s political philosophy. Focusing on the combination of psychoanalytic theory and philosophy, the book offers an overview of Å1⁄2iÅ3⁄4ek'¿¿s analysis of contemporary society. In five chapters, the reader is introduced to Å1⁄2iÅ3⁄4ek'¿¿s method, his view of the political impasse in the postmodern world, and his suggestion for a way ahead to renewed action and political invention. Rich in examples, the book gives an engaging and entertaining tour around the landscape of Å1⁄2iÅ3⁄4ek'¿¿s political endeavour, while at the same time insisting on a more systematic and piecemeal approach than the Slovenian tends to offer himself.

The subject of politics : Slavoj Žižek's political philosophy

Henrik Jøker Bjerre

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