Publication Details

Abstract

This paper investigates the polemics between Hegel scholar Robert Pippin and representatives of the “Ljubljana School,” Slavoj Žižek and Adrian Johnston. Our issue is not to reduce the matter to a political quarrel or decide on the “accuracy” of their Hegel interpretation, as existing literature has done. Rather, we focus on the debate’s developments through the lens of Žižek’s initial signal that what all participants share is an interest in the question “What does it mean to be a Hegelian today?” By analyzing key interactions, we present the argumentative structure of their agreements and differences, most notably on topic of a “need” (or not) for a “mutual redemption” with psychoanalysis. Doing so, we aim to lay the groundwork for a rudimentary positioning of Ljubljana in the landscape of Hegel scholarship (at least) as these authors perceive it.