Fear Thy Neighbor as Thyself – Antimonies of Tolerant Reason
On November 26th, 2007, Slovenian sociologist, critic of popular culture, and contemporary philosopher, Slavoj Žižek was invited to present a lecture at Boston University.
Žižek was born and raised in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where he graduated with a Master of Arts degree in philosophy from the University of Ljubljana in 1975. Then, after being rejected from a job he’d been previously promised, Žižek’s friends helped him find employment as a researcher at the University of Ljubljana’s Institute for Sociology. Here, he promptly began conducting research he was genuinely interested in, and in time, he earned his first PhD, in philosophy. Žižek took a break after to finally meet some fellow philosophers he’d spent an extensive amount of time writing to and about throughout college.
Eventually receiving a second PhD, this time in psychoanalysis, Žižek continued a career in writing, contributing columns to a weekly newspaper called Mladina. This was in the late 80s, at which time he also became the cofounder of the Slovenian Liberal Democratic Party. Žižek even went on to run for president in 1990, when free elections were held for the first time in Slovenian history. He actually came quite close to getting a seat but ended up losing.
Regardless, Žižek was then appointed as the Ambassador of Science for the Republic of Slovenia in 1991 and still does on occasion offer advice to the Slovenian government, off the record. In addition, he has gone on to write over a dozen books, many articles of political and philosophical themes, continues to edit several collections, and, perhaps most intriguing of all, has garnered international success for his incredible ability to speak publicly. Žižek has delivered lectures throughout four separate continents and has earned positions at several prestigious universities in the United States and Slovenia.
WBUR aired this lecture on January 27th, 2008.
