A Ticklish Subject
Slavoj Žižek The anxious researcher is unsure about placing the entry on philosophical humour between phallic ritual and physical comedy . Encyclopaedic collisions and incongruities abound. Is this a breach of academic decorum? Would it be safer simply to abandon the alphabetical approach to comedy and humour in this book on Aspects of Comedy ? Another anxiety: is this entry concerned with the philosophy of humour, or humour in philosophy? How much space should be allocated to Slavoj Žižek? (A philosopher, a public intellectual, and a comedian). In parenthesis --- ("there is a case to be made that Slavoj Žižek is really the Ken Dodd of post-Lacanian Hegelianism." --- Lindesay Irvine, Guardian , 6 January 2012, here ) --- And how funny is Žižek's The Ticklish Subject: the absent centre of political ontology (Verso, 1999)? I have my doubts. I guess his work will always divide opinion. Take a look at his highly controversial review essay on Benig...