Kant’s notion of ‘critique’ in the Critique of Pure Reason
The publication of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason in 1781 is widely seen as inaugurating the era of modern philosophy. It is the first of Kant’s three great critiques. Together … Continue reading
Notes on consciousness and bad faith in Sartre
Non-thetic consciounsness Sartre’s theory of consciousness, as outlined in early works such as The Transcendence of the Ego and Being and Nothingness, emerges out of his close critical engagement in … Continue reading
Notes on the master/slave relation in Nietzsche
Masters and slaves are a recurring motif throughout Nietzsche’s work, but the relationship between them is laid out most systematically in his 1887 book On the Genealogy of Morality. The … Continue reading
Notes on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit
Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit boasts a bizarre and starkly original structure. While Hegel’s philosophical preoccupations are in line with those of his German Idealist precursors – constructing a scientific metaphysics, … Continue reading
Down with the ten capitalist ministers
[originally published on Lenin’s Tomb] A few critical words on Slavoj Zizek’s paper at the Politics of Truth conference held in London at the end of last month. You can listen … Continue reading
Three studies in consumer desire
[originally published on bat.blogspot.com and Lenin’s Tomb] A peculiar microtrend in consumer advertising has recently caught my attention: a penchant for unexpected dialectical reversals in the normal ideological discourse of … Continue reading
Zizek on counterfactuals
[originally published on bat.blogspot.com and Lenin’s Tomb] Exhibit A: witless reactionaries desperately trying to justify the summary execution of an innocent man in London last month by armed plain clothes … Continue reading
Jacques Derrida, 1930–2004
[originally published on bat.blogspot.com] Paging through the teletext news this morning (an eminently written medium), I learned that Jacques Derrida had finally succumbed to pancreatic cancer. Like the death last … Continue reading
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