The Parallax View (book)

The Parallax View
Cover of the first edition
AuthorSlavoj Žižek
Cover artistGrigori Shpolyanski
LanguageEnglish
PublisherMIT Press
Publication date
February 2006 (U.S.)
Publication placeUnited States
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages448
ISBN978-0262512688

The Parallax View (2006) is a book by Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Like many of Žižek's books, it covers a wide range of topics, including philosophy, psychoanalysis, neuroscience, politics, literature, and film.[1][2] Some of the authors discussed in detail include Jacques Lacan, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger, Alain Badiou, Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri, Daniel Dennett, Antonio Damasio, Franz Kafka, and Henry James.

The book was described by Žižek as his magnum opus,[3] and it is considered notable because Žižek attempts therein to outline his system of thought.[4][5] According to Žižek's introduction to the book, it is divided into three main sections (philosophical, scientific, and political) in order to introduce "a minimum of conceptual order."[6] Although the book was largely well-received, some questioned whether it truly had a systematic approach.

The most enduring concept developed throughout the book is the parallax, which refers to the different apparent position of an object when it is seen from different perspectives. Žižek uses this idea, which comes from Kojin Karatani's Transcritique, to rework the Hegelian dialectic from a materialist perspective.[7]

  1. ^ Bogdanov 812
  2. ^ Johnston 17
  3. ^ Dean 375
  4. ^ Dean 376
  5. ^ Jameson 7
  6. ^ Žižek 10
  7. ^ Dean 376