The Fragile Absolute

View other editions of The Fragile Absolute.
View books by Slavoj Zizek.

Absolutely not Fragile - Rated
Slavoj Zizek (pronounced Slavoy Jijek) is without doubt the finest mind in European Philosophy since Wittgenstein. In a world obsessed with post-modernism, and its consequent rejection of objective reality, Zizek attempts, in 'The Fragile Absolute', to reclaim the Enlightenment project of Kant, Hegel and Marx from the clutches of thinkers who have abandoned overarching theories of the world. From Francis Fukyama's 'end of history' to Baudrillards sophistry, Zizek takes a razor sharp knife and cuts off the many heads of post-modernist illusionists. To acheive this he recounts the proper Marxist critique of the Capitalist obsession with commodification of objects into fetishistic objects of desire. Zizek fuses Lacanian psycho-analysis with an account of Christianity which throws fundamentalist religion, and new age 'babble' into the dustbin of postmodern fantasy. He argues, critically, that only by reclaiming the possibility of objective, overarching values and concerns can the world hope to come to an account of life that is both replete with integrity, and complete in its rejection of mystification dressed as 'truth'. The truth is out there but we can only find it if we 'uncouple' illusion and relativistic concerns from what is claimed (particularly, now, by Bush and Blair)as absolute truth.

This is a difficult book but it is never pretensious. It will stretch you to the limits of your knowledge. You will need to re-read it perhaps three or four times, initially, to fully benefit from the experience of an encounter with a true book of wisdom - philosophy as it should be.