Zizek first discuss Zeno's paradoxes, then moves on to explain the real and reality in relation to literature which comes from the ideas of Freud and Lacan. Zeno's paradoxes describe that we can never truly reach what we are moving toward, that our needs change form as they become desires and, finally, that we can never cover a distance because we first have to go half of it, but before that we must cover a fourth of the distance, and this continues to shrink as we look at space. Thus, we never reach our end goal, because we must constantly set new ones. Zizek relates these ideas to concepts of fantasy, which Zeno excluded from his work. Zizek explains that fantasy teaches us to desire and acts as a blank canvas that our desires can be projected onto. This canvas, fantasy, actually becomes the reality because it depicts what we truly desire, while parallel to this is the real. While this seems strange for fantasy and reality to exist in close tangent to one another, Zizek explainst that this is considered 'normalcy.' It is when the two can no longer be seperated that we have entered into madness.
Zizek elaborates on the ideas of Freud and Lacan. He holds similar views about desire as Freud explained, but furthers the concept by showing how it may apply to literature. Though, the ideas seem to conflict the mirror stage presented by Lacan. Lacan describes our learned understanding of reality in a way that doesn't seem to allow for the blank slate that Zizek describes. Zizek and Freud believe we start from scratch in considering our desires. Zizek's blank slate could certainly be seen as Freud's description of the id. Lacan seems to change this by added the mirror stage. The mirror reflects what we see. It is not a fresh start.
I first had trouble understanding the difference between Zeno's first and third paradoxes, as they appear to coincide together. That said, I think that they are valid representations of the way we look at life. Perhaps not as he intended, but his third paradox becomes a way we can consider how we must constantly adapt. We are unable to reach our ultimate endpoint, because we change it along the way. I also struggled with the difference between 'real' and 'reality.' The way these words are typically used complicates the understanding of these philosphies.
0 comments:
Post a Comment