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Quote by Simon Critchley

“For authoritarians such as Lenin and Žižek, the dichotomy in politics is state power or no power, but I refuse to concede that these are the only options. Genuine politics is about the movement between these poles, and it takes place through the creation of what I call "interstitial distance" within the state.”

Quote by Simon Critchley

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Simon Critchley
Simon Critchley

Simon Critchley is a British philosopher known for his contributions to existentialism and ethics. His work covers a wide range of topics, including political philosophy, aesthetics, and moral philosophy. Critchley's research interests include the ideas of philosophers such as Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Foucault. more

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“Here we observe the basic obsessive fantasy of Žižek's position: do nothing, sit still, prefer not to, like Melville's Bartleby, and silently dream of a ruthless violence, a consolidation of state power into one man's hands, an act of brutal physical force of which you are the object or the subject or both at once.”

MenStillsStatesDreamHandsForceFantasyViolenceSubjectsPositionObjectsOne ManBrutalRuthlessObsessivePhysical ForceConsolidationMelville
Author:Simon Critchley
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“If the denial of death is self-hatred, as it is to deny our freedom and live in fear of death (which is to say, to live in a form of bondage), then the acceptance and affirmation of death is indeed a form of self-love. But I'd want to make a distinction between a form of self-love which is essential to what it means to be human, and a narcissism of self-regard, like Rousseau's distinction between amour de soi and amour propre, self-love and pride.”

IfsWantHumansMeanSelfFormAcceptancePrideSelf LoveEssentialsHatredRegardDenyDenialDistinctionNarcissismAffirmationBondageFear Of DeathAmourSelf HatredWhat It Means To Be HumanDenial Of Death
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“I am opposing it with an idea of the history of philosophy as a history of philosophers, that is, a history of mortal, fragile and limited creatures like you and I. I am against the idea of clean, clearly distinct epochs in the history of philosophy or indeed in anything else. I think that history is always messy, contingent, plural and material. I am against the constant revenge of idealism in how we think about history.”

ThinkingIdeasPhilosophyMaterialsLike YouCreaturesConstantCleanPhilosopherRevengeMortalsFragileIdealismMessyOpposing
Author:Simon Critchley
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