Contingency, Hegemony, Universality

Contemporary Dialogues on the Left

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by Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Zizek

Verso

Due/Published June 2000, 300 pages, paper

ISBN 185984278X

Butler, Laclau, and Zizek engage in a dialogue on central questions of contemporary philosophy and politics. Their essays, organized as separate contributions that respond to one another, range over the Hegelian legacy in contemporary critical theory, the theoretical dilemmas of multiculturalism, the universalism-versus-particularism debate, the strategies of the Left in a globalized economy, and the relative merits of post-structuralism and Lacanian psychoanalysis for a critical social theory.While the rigor and intelligence with which these writers approach their work is formidable. Sounds great!

Contents

Introduction
Questions

Restaging the Universal: Hegemony and the LImits of Formalism--Judith Butler
Identity and Hegemony: The Role of Universality in the constitution of Political Logics--Ernesto Laclau
Class Struggle or Postmodernism: Yes, please!--Slavoj Zizek
Competing Universalities--Judith Butler
Structure, History, and the Political--Ernesto Laclau
Da Capo senza Fine--Slavoj Zizek
Dynamic Conclusions--Judith Butler
Constructing Universality--Ernesto Laclau
Holding the Place--Slavoj Zizek

Review

What do Butler, Laclau, and Zizek, three prominent Leftist post-structuralist theorists, have in common when it comes to politics? This is something the three of them wondered and they devised a questionnaire for themselves to examine where their political thought meets and diverges. In separate essays the three take up the project that Zizek and Laclau initiated in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, namely the turn to poststructuralist theory within Marxism and a further exploration of Gramsci.

The theorists examine a variety of philosophical issues with an eye towards how the problem of language is essential to the formulation of an anti-totalitarian, radical democratic project. The essays also discuss the centrality of identity in contemporary social movements and how the uncertainty of identification ultimately strengthens the democratic process. The concept of universality and how it is implemented in political discussions, the constitution of the subject, and hegemony are also dissected by the contributors.

While the three certainly share many similarities in their intellectual projects, there are also many important and interesting differences, particularly in their readings of Hegel and Gramsci. These provocative essays not only speak to one another but also reveal the ways in which poststructuralist thought can orient itself to questions of politics and a more open democracy.