New German Idealism

Adrian Johnston is Distinguished Professor in and Chair of the Department of Philosophy at the University of New Mexico and is a faculty member at the Emory Psychoanalytic Institute in Atlanta. His many books include Žižek’s Ontology: A Transcendental Materialist Theory of Subjectivity (2008); Prolegomena to Any Future Materialism, vol. 1: The Outcome of Contemporary French Philosophy (2013); and, with Catherine Malabou, Self and Emotional Life: Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, and Neuroscience (2013, Columbia University Press). With Todd McGowan and Slavoj Žižek, he is a coeditor of the book series Diaeresis at Northwestern University Press.

• Preface: Drawing Lines—Žižek’s Speculative DialecticsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Sublating Absolute Idealism—Žižekian Materialist Reversals1. “Freedom or System? Yes, Please!”: Spinozisms of Freedom and the Post-Kantian Aftermath Then and Now2. Where to Start?: Deflating Hegel’s Deflators3. Contingency, Pure Contingency—Without Any Further Determination: Hegelian Modalities4. Materialism Sans Materialism: Žižekian Substance Deprived of Its Substance5. Bartleby by Nature: German Idealism, Biology, and Žižek’s CompatibilismConclusion: Driven On—the (Meta)Dialectics of Drive and DesireNotesBibliographyIndex

A New German Idealism is the culmination of Johnston's decade-long dialogue with my work. Although we share the same basic orientation (Lacan and German idealism), we differ in some central points: Johnston privileges evolutionary biology as a scientific reference, while I privilege quantum physics. Not only am I proud to have such a highly qualified partner in the debate; I also think that, in his reaction to my work, Johnston touches on the key question of today's philosophy: how to move beyond a transcendental approach (in all its versions, inclusive of deconstruction) without retreating into naive realism (in the form of object-oriented ontology). Johnston's new book is thus indispensable reading for all those interested in the state of philosophy today at a time when its fate is challenged by the latest achievements in the brain sciences. In short, it is indispensable for all those who want to think in the authentic sense of the term.