the puppet and the dwarf, pt 1

[alienacean]

I can't believe I never had to read Zizek in all of my religion courses. Just started The Puppet and The Dwarf. it gets right at some central issues of modernity

Comments

[legolastn]

Sounds like something that I need to read, though I'm not totally convinced by the argument. On the one hand, there are elements of culture besides religion that I think people "really believe in." Also, I think science is split between true believers and skeptical believers (postmodern social scientists being one example).

I think the questioning of whether people ever "really believed" is an intriguing one, but I think the modern idea of belief can also be interrogated in a different way, such as what I've see with liberal theologians such as Marcus Borg. Borg points out that the idea of "belief" as we understand it in a modern context is really a minority report in premodern times. One does not have to put any effort into believing or convincing others to believe if your "beliefs" are the only way of knowing the world you or the people you know have ever really been exposed to. In a way I think this comes back around to being similar to Zizek's argument but not quite the same point of view.

[alienacean]

yeah it's fun reading... i don't know if i'm convinced yet either, but then again, all the above ideas come merely from the introduction chapter! i presume they will be elaborated and supported in the main text, on which i will try to provide commentary in future posts. :)