On February 5, 2020, our Philosophy Today discussion is on Human Thinking by philosopher Slavoj Zizek.
Questions to discuss include:
- Within our current social internet, is it possible that we can lose our individuality yet think we still own our individuality? If a computer can access our neural network and control our actions, would we still believe that we control our own actions? How will the human brain experience this lack of control? Is it possible we still think we are in control?
- With regards to direct brain machine interface where thinking can be used to produce movement or share an experience, can experience exist without language?
- Does human eroticism reside in prohibition? Can a relationship exist indefinitely in our mind without acting on it? Thereby taking into consideration Lacan’s do not compromise or complicate desire.
- Do you agree with Hegel that thinking is evil? Thinking is alienation and opposition, and only through the process of thinking, the good emerges.
- In your opinion, is coffee without cream the same as coffee without milk? Will a computer be able to detect the difference?
Slavoj Žižek (b. 1949) Known for his idiosyncratic approach to psychoanalytic philosophy and cultural criticism, Žižek’s doesn’t spare either the political right or the liberal left in his anti-capitalist and neo-liberal criticism. Žižek’s career has mostly focused on developing a school of thought based on authentic experiences, what he calls “The Real”, and his work infamously bounces from from the high-brow masterpiece The Sublime Object of Ideology (1989) to the low-brow antithetical work The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2012). Because of his willingness to explore low-cultural tropes, and bring them into philosophic discourse, he has achieved wide cultural acclaim. Žižek has cited as a “a celebrity philosopher,” the “Elvis of Cultural Theory” and “the most dangerous philosopher in the West.” He teaches at New York University.