Speaker
,Author
Slavoj Žižek
Slavoj Žižek is a globally renowned philosopher and cultural critic. He is the author of The Sublime Object of Ideology and is the International Director of Humanities at Birkbeck.
Slavoj Žižek is a globally renowned philosopher and cultural critic. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy. He is the author of several books, including The Sublime Object of Ideology, The Parallax View, Living in the End Times and Heaven in Disorder.
Žižek has collaborated with filmmaker Sophie Fiennes on films including The Pervert's Guide to Cinema and The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, in which his interest in topics such as Lacanian psychoanalysis, German idealism and Communism is explored through the lens of popular entertainment. His unique style of philosophy, which is often imbued with humour and political incorrectness, has gained him admirers and critics across the globe.

Slavoj Žižek is a globally renowned philosopher and cultural critic. He is international director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London, visiting professor at New York University and a senior researcher at the University of Ljubljana's Department of Philosophy. He is the author of several books, including The Sublime Object of Ideology, The Parallax View, Living in the End Times and Heaven in Disorder.
Žižek has collaborated with filmmaker Sophie Fiennes on films including The Pervert's Guide to Cinema and The Pervert's Guide to Ideology, in which his interest in topics such as Lacanian psychoanalysis, German idealism and Communism is explored through the lens of popular entertainment. His unique style of philosophy, which is often imbued with humour and political incorrectness, has gained him admirers and critics across the globe.
Slavoj Žižek Videos

The life and philosophy of Slavoj Žižek
Celebrity philosopher reflects on his life's work

Quantum and the unknowable universe
Has quantum physics made the universe unknowable?

The end of good and evil
Can humans ever be inherently good or evil?

Humanity and the gods of nature
Is morality human?

Surplus happiness
The false joy of excess
Slavoj Žižek Articles
More Videos

Philosophy vs Science
On reason and the search for truth

The Reality Illusion
Has perception evolved to trick us?

On Language and Logic
Why language dominates philosophy

Thinking Dangerously, Living Differently
Can philosophy change how we think?

The Word and the World
What are the limits of language?

The Edge of Reality
Where mathematical metaphors meet reality

The Future of the Post-Truth World
Is the era of objective truth over?

Stories to Change the World
On rhetoric, meaning and language

The Laws of the Universe
Are the laws of nature just human constructs?

Making Sense of Reality
Do we see what they tell us to see?

Beyond Experience
What is the nature of reality?

Thinking Across the World
Julian Baggini | Non-western philosophy traditions

Lies and Beauty
Is lying somehow essential to our lives?

The Limits of My World
Was philosophy's linguistic turn a mistake?

In the Beginning Was the Word
Is the world dependent on language?

Language and the World
How does language describe the world?

How do you solve a problem like uncertainty?
A new paradigm of risk

Limits of Thought: John McWhorter and Stanley Fish
Can we think outside of language?

Truth and Beauty
Do beautiful theories really explain the world?

Dreaming the Future
Utopia and the Limits of Thought

Limits of Language
Can we find the right words for everything?

The Known, The Strange and the New
Why does the world remain puzzling and strange?

Beyond the Machine
Metaphors of the body

Heraclitus' Dream
Are particles or processes fundamental?

Unnatural Laws
Are eternal laws an illusion?

Wittgenstein's Collection of Nonsense

After Relativism
The ways forward from post-modernity

The Secrets of the World
Can we have a complete description of reality?
Thinking Differently
Language, gender and sexuality

The Laughing Philosopher
Does comedy hold the key to truth and morality?

Language, Metaphor, and Reality
Methaphors to change the world

Unexplained Events
Does everything have a cause and effect?

Plato Not Prozac
Philosophy's therapeutic power

Fantasy and Reality
Should we 'get real' or embrace fantasy?

The Sex Lives of Philosophers
And what they tell us about their ideas

Fantasies and Lies
Are myths dangerous?

The End of Ideas
Has celebrity obliterated the intellectual?

The Ultimate Map of Reality
Could a metaphysical revival be on the agenda?

Thinking the Unthinkable
The limits of thought

After Postmodernity

Beyond Reality
What are the limits of our understanding?

The Elegant Universe
Is truth always simple?

Everywhere and Nowhere
Are binary oppositions real?

Beyond Truth and Falsehood
What is real?

Stranger Than We Think
Do supernatural beliefs reflect the limits of human understanding?

Dangerously Big Ideas
Do we need grand theories?

This Debate Has No Title
Solving the self-referential paradox

God's Map
Charting the universe

The Call of Silence
The route to understanding

I Think Therefore Iamb
Poetry gives pleasure, distraction and emotional outlet but can it uncover a greater truth?
More Articles

How education embedded inequality

How liberals left liberty behind

We can’t tame big tech

The legacy of Charles Mills
Can the state know what's best?

Why taking offence is good

The power of utopia

The power of apocalypse

The future of male identity

Buy stuff, end capitalism?

Defending freedom will be the downfall of the US

We shouldn't fear genetic differences

In defence of hierarchy

The family's threat to justice

The dangers of Davos and the global social contract

Democracy and the polarization trap

The political power of your body

The Ethics of Online Communication

Beyond envy's dark side

Ukraine alone won't save democracy

The most important book Marx never wrote

We must imitate Zelensky, not just admire him

Political labels are a farce

The philosophers behind Putin

Ukraine is not about territory, it's about identity
Liberal democracies can't solve climate change

How Macron polarized politics, and won

Prosecuting war crimes is not the answer

Fundamental rights and the limits of democracy

Musk's town square will be chaos