A Pervert’s Guide to Europe? Philosophical Dialectic against Ideological Polarization, according to Slavoj Zizek

Una perversa guida per l'Europa? Dialettica filosofica contro la polarizzazione ideologica, secondo Slavoj Zizek

Abstract

The existence of a series of radical contradictions that undermine the political and social cohesion of Europe leads to questioning the basis of its very identity. The philosopher Slavoj Zizek suggests that these antinomies are due to an ideological core inherent in the European Union project, a circumstance favoured by the complicity of the continental Leitkultur towards neoliberalism and aggravated in the frame of post-political problematisation. In this regard, the present essay aims to investigate the role of ideology in the European political space, contextualizing Zizek’s approach within the broader and controversial argument of the "end of ideology". The goal is to relate Zizek’s criticism of a fictitious dualism in which the European Union seems to struggle (neoliberal globalism versus nationalist populism) with his attempt to recover a dialectical philosophy capable of recognizing the irreducibility of antagonisms and overcoming the ideological deception.