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The idea of Kantian ethics is both simple and revolutionary: it proposes a moral law independent of any notion of a pre-establishment of fear. In attempting to interpret sucha a revcolutionary proposition in a more 'humane' light, and to turn Kant into our contemporary - someone who can help us with our own ethical dilemmas - many Kantian scholars have glossed over its apparent paradoxes and impossible claims. This book is concerned with doing exactly the opposite. Kant, thank God, is not our contemporary; he stands against the grain of our times. Lacan on the face of it appears to be the very antithesis of Kant - the wild theorist of psychoanalysis compared to the sober Enlightenment figure. His concept of the Real, however, provides perhaps the most useful backdrop to this new interpretation of Kantian ethics. Constantly juxtaposing her readings of the two philosophers, Alenka Zupancic summons up and 'ethics of the Real', and clears the ground for a radical restoration of the disruptive element in ethics.
""If Zupancic's book does not become a classic work of reference, the only conclusion will be that our academia is caught in an obscure desire to self-destruct."" - Slavoj Zizek
| Foreword: Why Is Kant Worth Fighting For? | p. vii |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| The (Moral-) Pathology of Everyday Life | p. 7 |
| The Subject of Freedom | p. 21 |
| What freedom? | p. 22 |
| What subject? | p. 25 |
| The Lie | p. 43 |
| Kant and 'the right to lie' | p. 43 |
| The Unconditional | p. 53 |
| The Sadeian trap | p. 58 |
| From the Logic of Illusion to the Postulates | p. 64 |
| The 'stormy ocean' of illusion | p. 64 |
| 'Person also means mask' | p. 68 |
| The passage to the postulates | p. 75 |
| Good and Evil | p. 79 |
| Fantasy within the limits of reason alone | p. 79 |
| The logic of suicide | p. 82 |
| Degrees of evil | p. 86 |
| Like angels, like devils | p. 90 |
| The act as 'subjectivation without subject' | p. 96 |
| The Act and Evil in Literature | p. 106 |
| The case of Valmont | p. 107 |
| The case of Don Juan | p. 121 |
| Between the Moral Law and the Superego | p. 140 |
| The quantum of affect | p. 140 |
| The sublime and the logic of the superego | p. 149 |
| The status of the law | p. 160 |
| Ethics and Tragedy in Psychoanalysis | p. 170 |
| Some preliminary remarks | p. 170 |
| Oedipus, or the Outcast of the Signifier | p. 175 |
| The theft of desire--and the mother in exchange | p. 175 |
| The death of the Thing | p. 187 |
| What is a father? | p. 192 |
| What shall we do with Oedipus? | p. 197 |
| The hostage of the word | p. 200 |
| Sygne, or the Enjoyment of the Remainder | p. 211 |
| Ethics and terror | p. 213 |
| Enjoyment--my neighbour | p. 221 |
| The Real in ethics | p. 234 |
| From pure desire to the drive | p. 238 |
| Thus ... | p. 249 |
| Index | p. 261 |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
ISBN: 9781859842188
ISBN-10: 1859842186
Series: Wo Es War
Audience:
General
Format:
Paperback
Language:
English
Number Of Pages: 266
Published: 16th March 2000
Country of Publication: GB
Dimensions (cm): 21.59 x 14.0
x 1.63
Weight (kg): 0.36
Edition Number: 1
