Ethics of the Real

Kant and Lacan

Alenka Zupancic

• Publisher: Verso
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781844677870
• eBook ISBN:
  9781789600490
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Ethics & Moral Philosophy

The idea of Kantian ethics is both simple and revolutionary: it proposes a moral law independent of any notion of a pre-established Good or any 'human inclination' such as love, sympathy or fear. In attempting to interpret such a revolutionary proposition in a more 'humane' light, and to turn Kant into our contemporary-someone who can help us with our own ethical dilemmas-many Kantian scholars have glossed over its apparent paradoxes and impossible claims. This book is concerned with doing exactly the opposite. Kant, thank God, is not our contemporary; he stands against the grain of our times. Lacan on the face of it appears the very antithesis of Kant-the wild theorist of psychoanalysis compared to the sober Enlightenment thinker. His concept of the Real, however, provides perhaps the most useful backdrop to this new interpretation of Kantian ethics. Constantly juxtaposing her readings of the two philosophers. Alenka Zupancic summons up an 'ethics of the Real', and clears the ground for a radical restoration of the disruptive element in ethics.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword: Why Is Kant Worth Fighting For?
• Introduction
• 1. The (Moral-)Pathology of Everyday Life
• 2. The Subject of Freedom
• 3. The Lie
• 4. From the Logic of Illusion to the Postulates
• 5. Good and Evil
• 6. The Act and Evil in Literature
• 7. Between the Moral Law and the Superego
• 8. Ethics and Tragedy in Psychoanalysis
• 9. Thus…
• Notes
• Index