A New German Idealism: Hegel, Žižek, and Dialectical Materialism

376 Pages·2018·5.355 MB·English

by  Adrian Johnston

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Adrian Johnston
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A New German
Idealism
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HEGEL, ŽIŽEK, AND
DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM
A New German Idealism

A NEW GERMAN
IDEALISM
Hegel, Žižek, and Dialectical Materialism
ADRIAN JOHNSTON
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS NEW YORK
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup .columbia .edu
Copyright © 2018 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Johnston, Adrian, 1974– author.
Title: A new German idealism: Hegel, Zizek, and dialectical materialism / Adrian Johnston.
Description: New York: Columbia University Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017052046 | ISBN 9780231183949 (cloth: alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231545242 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Dialectical materialism. | Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, 1770–1831. |
Zizek, Slavoj.
Classification: LCC B809.82.G3 J64 2018 | DDC 199/.4973—dc22
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052046
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover image: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
To S.—for pushing me

Nature should not be rated too high nor too low . . . awakening
consciousness takes its rise surrounded by natural influences
alone (nur in der Natur), and every development of it is the reflec-
tion of Spirit back upon itself in opposition to the immediate,
unreflected character of mere nature. Nature is therefore one
element in this antithetic abstracting process; Nature is the first
standpoint from which man can gain freedom within himself,
and this liberation must not be rendered difficult by natural
obstructions. Nature, as contrasted with Spirit, is a quantitative
mass, whose power must not be so great as to make its single
force omnipotent (allmächtig).
—G. W. F. Hegel
When will all these shadows of God cease to darken our
minds? When will we complete our de-deification of nature?
When may we begin to “naturalize” humanity in terms of a pure,
newly discovered, newly redeemed nature?
—Friedrich Nietzsche

Contents
Preface: Drawing Lines—Žižek’s Speculative Dialectics xi
Acknowledgments xxxv
Introduction: Sublating Absolute Idealism—Žižekian
Materialist Reversals 1
one “Freedom or System? Yes, Please!”: Spinozisms of Freedom and
the Post-Kantian Aftermath Then and Now 11
two Where to Start?: Deflating Hegel’s Deflators 38
three Contingency, Pure Contingency—Without Any Further
Determination: Hegelian Modalities 74
four Materialism Sans Materialism: Žižekian Substance Deprived
of Its Substance 129
five Bartleby by Nature: German Idealism, Biology, and
Žižek’s Compatibilism 151
Conclusion: Driven On—the (Meta)Dialectics of Drive and Desire 187
[ ix ]