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The article presents a theoretical analysis of the extramural polemic between Slavoj Žižek and Evald Ilyenkov, undertaken in the context of the search for the foundational underpinnings of the two philosophers' perspectives on the limit-logical definitions of being. It shows how this apparently "abstract" search grows out of the socio-historical circumstances of the thinkers' lives, which are inscribed in the dramatic conditions of existence of the political events of the twentieth century. The active life-political position of the follower of Marx's ideas, figuratively expressed in the text by Lenin's term "tactics of social democracy" (Lenin 1962), is justified by one or another cognitive position: the unified attitude "not to explain but to transform the world" breaks down into various "tactics" precisely in the attempt to solve the problem of radical negativity (as Žižek formulates it). This is expressed in the division of Marxism into "Western" and "Eastern". This article analyzes the legitimacy of such a division and shows the conditions for a disintegration of the divide. The relation of Ilyenkov and Žižek to Hegel's works turns out to be the key to understanding this division, and consequently to the essential difference in socio-political attitudes and "tactics", of which they are creative representatives. The analysis leads to the formulation of the "germ cell" of disagreement between Ilyenkov and Žižek—the problem of the universal—which unfolds in the difference between the thinkers' positions on certain theoretical points. The limitation of Ilyenkov's position, established under the fire of Žižek's criticism, is removed, according to the author, by the development of a new category of "fractality", which acts as a counterpart to the main dialectical category of "totality" and provides a concrete (in the Hegelian sense) solution to the problem of radical negativity in the spirit of the classical philosophical tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the theme of subjectivity. One of the most pressing questions today is what theoretical and practical efforts should be made to avoid being a powerless tool in the hands of others and under what conditions one's own "subjective opinion" becomes the real, reliable fulcrum as far as purposeful activity, free and reasonable goal-setting are concerned. The desire to derive subjectivity from individual, singular existence today forces a thinker as prominent as Slavoj Žižek to search for its form as "purified from" ideological layers and the contingencies of life. In his search for such a form, he turns to the psychoanalytic tradition, to the work of Jacques Lacan and his attempts to formalize the structures of subjectivity in isolation from the universality that generates them as necessity. This abstract consideration of subjectivity leads him to recognize subjectivity as a "distorting factor" in view of the insurmountable rupture between being and thinking. Evald Ilyenkov takes a different approach to the question of active self-determination. He conceives of personality as universal—the traits of a person are formed in the course of interaction between individuals in the process of producing the means of life. The individual becomes a personality or an acting subject, appropriating the generic powers of humanity, while being included in a system that implies a human relationship to the thing and, through it, to another individual. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the death of God narrative through the lens of kenosis, drawing insights from thinkers such as Marcel, Heidegger, Vattimo, and Girard. It investigates the implications of kenotic thought for contemporary religious and philosophical discourse, exploring various interpretations of kenosis, ranging from Altizer and Žižek's apocalyptic views to Vattimo's more hopeful perspective. Through critical engagement with these viewpoints, this paper advocates for a nuanced understanding of kenosis inspired by Hegel, one that bypasses both radical theology and excessive optimism. Methodologically, this study adopts a hermeneutic approach, analyzing key texts and engaging in philosophical dialogue. This paper concludes that rethinking kenotic thought could provide a robust framework for grappling with the death of God in the contemporary context, offering avenues for ethical reflection, social critique, and speculative renewal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with Slavoj Žižek's notion of the 'vanishing mediator,' by taking a closer look at his study of the Hegelian 'night of the world.' It specifically probes into the notion of the divine madness that becomes the 'Ground' for the sane, subjective God of The Bible to Word the universe into being. Following this, it proceeds to bring the aforementioned into discourse with Bloodborne, which, in one of its endings, presents the curious case of the next stage of human evolution, i.e., a transcendence into Godhood, which occurs during a similar night. The paper, in essence, presents a dramatic stage for this madness to play out in its reading of Bloodborne, while tracing its vestiges using a postsecular-psychoanalytical lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slavoj Žižek, who is regarded as one of the popular names of the last quarter century, writes his works and expresses his thoughts in a wide range of fields including philosophy, psychoanalysis, cinema, politics and culture. His interconnection of these fields in his works and speeches, as well as his unique style, has resulted in his reaching a wide audience on a global scale in the field of philosophy/thought. In addition to his distance from religion, Žižek's analyses in the theo-political field also reveal remarkable approaches and arguments with the interrelation of the mentioned fields. This study focuses on Žižek's analyses of the issue (or question) of Judaism in direct connection with this field. In addition to this issue, his unique perspective and position on anti-Semitism and Israel represent the other main topics of the study. Although it may be difficult to establish a direct connection between the field of philosophy/thought and the theo-political field, it would not be wrong to say that Žižek has overcome this difficulty as in many subjects and texts. Therefore, this study is an attempt to understand Žižek in these three contexts in which thoughts and opinions emerge in the light of theoretical and actual developments. Thus, it is aimed to make contribution to the literature by analyzing Žižek's views in the relevant contexts within the scope of a single study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Si bien en general los intérpretes contemporáneos de Hegel han realizado grandes esfuerzos por distanciarse de los aspectos metafísicos de su obra, esta separación resulta poco concordante con la comprensión ofrecida por el propio autor, más allá del rendimiento explicativo que dicho distanciamiento pueda prestar. Por el contrario, y considerando como efectiva la relación entre los Principios de la filosofía del derecho y la Ciencia de la lógica, el desarrollo del concepto y sus implicancias para el desarrollo del concepto de derecho solo pueden ser comprendidos adecuadamente a partir de una lectura conjunta de ambas obras. En este sentido, una mirada radical sobre las consecuencias del pensamiento de Hegel es la que ofrece Žižek al entender al filósofo de Stuttgart como un continuador del proyecto crítico kantiano, pero llevándolo hasta sus últimas consecuencias. Esta lectura presenta una serie de alcances para la comprensión del pensamiento jurídico de Hegel que no solo permite pensar la época del autor de forma restringida, sino que también permite abordar lo jurídico en nuestro tiempo.

Following Slavoj Žižek, critical marketing scholars have interrogated the ideological fantasies of mainstream marketing, de-romanticising markets and marketing. However, Žižek argues there is no ideology-free subject, so it stands to Žižekean reason that critical marketing scholars are also ideological fantasists. Our paper seeks to de-romanticise critical marketing theory by identifying the fantasy of capitalist corruption. This sustains the ideology of critical marketing theory by disavowing (self-)destructive desires within the human unconscious and suggesting that displacing capitalism will be enough to usher in a postcapitalist utopia. This ideological fantasy has therapeutic, motivational, and institutional benefits, but romanticises the human subject in ways that ultimately frustrate the critical project of societal betterment. By acknowledging the human unconscious as a corrupting influence, we hope to make critical aspirations more likely to be realised. We illustrate our argument via studies of sustainability, a favoured topic of Žižekean, critical, and mainstream scholars alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to seek refuge of faith in the era of religious secularization? Kierkegaard’s interpretation of Abraham’s son-killing sacrifice offers us a way out of thought. This story intrigues us in how individuals can reach incommensurable sacred beliefs beyond the level of public ethics and rituals. This way of believing fits with Freud’s conception of unconsciousness, that salvation as a miracle of spiritual healing of life must go beyond group conventions and culture to the individual unconsciousness in lasting private struggle. Moreover, this salvation manifests the existence of the unconscious dynamic of the Way of Life and the spirit of the universe, which will surely dissolve the worldly Other and be present in the absence of consciousness, reason, libido, signifier. At the same time, we will refute the three misunderstandings in turn from the opposition between the unique and the universal, self-sacrifice and scapegoat-sacrifice, silence and speech through dissecting Sartre, Derrida, and Žižek’s biased reading of the story: faith is neither subordinate to universal legislation acting by free choice, nor does it point to ethical relativism guided by individual preference or to political terror movements obeying the Other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are at least five obstacles to the viability of ideology critique as a method of analysis in current conditions: (1) there is no ideology-free, God's-eye view through which the critical theorist can analyze other ideologies; (2) few people really believe in explicit ideological justifications for exploitation and domination today, a widespread skepticism that could annul the warrant for ideology critique; (3) conspiracy theories and identity politics have superseded more universalistic and structural forms of critique, which, due to their real and superficial similarities with ideology critique, represent troublesome competitors; (4) ecological degradation is undermining the possibility of the free future that ideology critique implicitly anticipates; and (5) due to the decline of radical labor movements and near-absolute control of consciousness by the culture industry, the audience for ideology critique is so small and distracted that thoughtful, written analyses of ideology may be pointless. Despite these obstacles, I defend ideology critique as a viable and beneficial method. Barrier (5) is the only obstacle that I think has the potential to deliver a death blow to ideology critique in the foreseeable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reconsiders the claim made by mainstream internet platforms that they inherently foster a democratic public sphere, offering reasons why the opposite may be true. It surveys past studies that have supported both views, showing how the position taken by scholars tends to depend on their disciplinary perspectives. Historically, scholarly approaches to the public or political impacts of the internet and social media have been characterised by four main interpretative lenses: technodeterminism, behaviourism, and the prioritising of either ideology, or the economics of media ownership. This article pays particular attention to the last two, and to Facebook, which among mainstream internet platforms has notably associated itself with democratic ideals. The article describes how many of the democratic ideals associated with Facebook's impacts on society are in fact reversed by the platform's practices, with effects that directly contradict the platform's stated principles. The article ends by suggesting that Facebook consciously pretends to favour the public sphere, and that such Orwellian doublethink is a deliberate attempt to divert attention away from its augmentation of private and personal issues at the expense of collective engagement and empowerment. designed differently, Facebook could have had favourable impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo busca demostrar que el Budismo Zen conlleva una relación entre espiritualidad y corporalidad que Žižek no considera en su crítica del mismo como un instrumento más de adaptación al capitalismo. En respuesta a esta crítica, argumentaré que el criterio para entender apropiadamente el budismo está en la propia tradición, particularmente en la disciplina de la práctica. En el Zen, la doctrina se realiza a través de la práctica disciplinada y metódica, la cual se arraiga en el cuerpo. En rigor, la crítica de Žižek es válida solo para aquel budismo que carece de disciplina y se preocupa únicamente por obtener resultados inmediatos, reforzando así el individualismo y haciendo de la e

In order to follow the contours of Wordsworth's ideological development and the role played by the sublime in the growth of his mind, one is well-advised to follow the temporal and narrative progression of The Prelude (1799). Through a Žižekian analysis of Wordsworth's magnum opus, this study argues that the sublime can be approached from two different points. First, it can be conceived as the symbolic intrusion into the imaginary world of the subject, rifting the sense of unity and perfection, and relocating the object of desire from the imaginary to the symbolic order. Next, it can be perceived as the intrusion of the real into the symbolic order, as the lack at the heart of the Other, making a perfect correspondence of the signifying elements and the ultimate achievement of the object of desire impossible. What links these two different significations of the sublime together is the crucial realization that, in both cases, the sublime holds the place of illusory and non-existent states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jokes are indispensable to Slavoj Žižek's commentaries and theoretical reflexions on politics and culture. However, contrary, or in addition, to their putative radical meaning and their capacity to render clear certain ideological practices, some of these jokes seem to raise serious questions in relation to their politics. The current article will focus on three texts by Žižek, all of which contain a joke or pun, in order to examine the function of these jokes on a microsociological level, that is, in relation to speaker/audience dynamics, as well as exploring the broader politics they advocate and they invite us to embrace. A Lacanian discourse analysis is employed in order to open up these texts and jokes and discuss what is understood as their ideological character and disciplinary function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drug use is a transient rather than a fixed range of practices. Drug markets are constantly evolving as substances, both old and new, move in and out of fashion. If we are to understand this process of evolution, it must be placed against a background of consumer capitalism. Building on the author's previous work, this article seeks to move beyond existing theories to examine the nexus of drug use, pleasure and consumerism. This article draws upon a Žižekien account of the unconscious and the ontology of desire. Drawing on ultra-realism this article responds to the call for new theories of drug use to replace the old and outdated theories of the sixties and seventies. Beginning with the claim that we cannot properly grasp 'real-life developments' unless we examine 'the self-propelling metaphysical dance of Capital that runs the show' this article positions drug use in relation to the key ideological demands of neoliberalism and its subjectivities, including its damaged subjectivities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reviews how Thai and Chinese journalists talk about power and truth in relationship to their Fourth Estate role through examining twenty qualitative interviews. Adding to a previous study similarly looking at US and UK journalists it finds that, like their western counterparts, truth is heavily fetishized, being an ideal that journalists admittedly can never reach. However power relations are discussed quite differently, showing how the divergent power structures of the four countries create very different discourses of the power of journalists which are not fetishized to the same extent. This article thus finds that there are limitations to the universality of Žižek's concept of ideology as fetishistic disavowal (that is, being able to actively admit the limitations of one's profession as long as one still performs it) in the realm of comparative journalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El presente artículo se ocupa de la orientación marxista del filósofo esloveno Slavoj Žižek. Se intenta elucidar su lectura de Marx, su relación con él y su particular versión del marxismo. Primero se indaga cómo Žižek adopta ciertas concepciones marxianas de la universalidad, la retroactividad, la contingencia, el materialismo, la libertad y la economía. Luego se examina la forma en que, por un lado, Žižek aplica ciertas ideas de Marx a la explicación del mundo actual y, por otro lado, reinterpreta el pensamiento marxiano desde una perspectiva lacaniana u original, propiamente žižekiana. Por último, después de haberse detectado algunos puntos en los que Žižek adhiere a Marx, se abordan críticamente otros puntos en los que discrepa de él.

This article reflects on how the issue of the Real allows us to rethink the human of today in a more complete and up-to-date way. And for this purpose, two apparently dissimilar perspectives of understanding the Real are discussed: that of the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, which is rooted in Lacan’s psychoanalysis, and that of the Spanish philosopher Xavier Zubiri, which is born from a deep critical dialogue with Heidegger’s ontology. This paper will show the unity of two visions of the Real that lie at the heart of what is human and that allow us to criticize certain very influential psychoanalytic thought, centred on Jacques-Alain Miller, which cannot account for what is happening to us radically in the current era, or, perhaps, in any era.

This paper focuses on an emblematic encounter between philosophy and psychoanalysis in the guise of a textual analysis that demonstrates the tension between two (philosophical) texts by Slavoj Žižek, through what is omitted from one of them, on the one hand, and some psychoanalytical texts, on the other. Employing Lacanian psychoanalytic theory, one can uncover a curious blind spot on Žižek’s part regarding the prevailing social and political context of ‘lockdowns’ and ‘vaccinations’ – which arguably signal the attempt to execute a global coup d’etat by the ‘New World Order’ – by identifying lacunae in Žižek’s second text, which are symptomatic of what Freud called ’negation’, and which Lacan relates to the ‘censored chapter’ of the subject’s life story. One can regard these omissions as symptomatic of repressing knowledge of disturbing events in the extant world, given Žižek’s well-known ability to offer trenchant criticism of any action he deems deserving of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sociologists, economists, historians, anthropologists, political theorists, and literary critics have all turned their attention to the study of capitalism. But philosophers remain much less engaged. Why is this? And what could philosophy bring to the study of capitalism? Could it help in the development of a general theory? My main argument here is that philosophy does have an important role to play in the study of capitalism, particularly if we want to develop a general theory. Philosophers must describe something that is peculiar to capitalism, in philosophical terms, which has not been explained by sociological, economic, or psychological means. This subject matter does exist: it is the nature of rationality within capitalism. I suggest that this can best be explained by using the theory of the space of reasons, which helps to show how rational human practices shape social and economic institutions, and how our form of rationality is in turn shaped by those practices and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The ontological incompleteness revealed by quantum physics and the ontological stability imposed by the "augmented reality" of games such as Pokémon Go have become increasingly important references in Žižek's materialist assessment of the contemporary Other. This paper analyzes a current online phenomenon, known as "the Backrooms," that converges with these recent concerns in ways that are perhaps more interesting and provocative than films such as The Matrix and The Truman Show that, Žižek contends, lead one to a conceptual dead-end. That is, we might conclude that there is an authentic reality beyond the simulation or that there is no 'real' reality, just a variety of semblances - either way, we foreclose the real that, according to Žižek, inheres as incompleteness and inconsistency. "The Backrooms," which began life as a cryptic and disquieting post on the forum 4chan before inspiring subreddits, video games and YouTube videos - content that is predominantly created and shared by the 'gen x' demographic - ex-sists in a reality that is unstable and, so goes its lore, can be accessed through glitches and 'quantum tunnelling.' With this one example, we shall see how culture is responding to the same political and scientific developments that Žižek's materialism is also working through. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Often cited quotation from the Communist Manifesto that capitalism can have an antiracist, anti-sexist bourgeoisie is the starting point of this analysis. Deploying Žižek's work on the "rotary motion" in the Indivisible Remainder, along with aspects of Marx's analysis of Ideology in the German Ideology to give readers a deeper analysis of Trump's exploitation of white voter's 'new racism as the fear of the 'theft of enjoyment' pinned on the Other' who either threatens to snatch from "us" the treasure of our 'way of life', which conceals a deeper ressentiment which exploded on January 6th, and circulates through the back corners of the internet in white supremacist chatrooms. While these reports have been widely covered in mainstream news sources, a psychoanalytical treatment of "Replacement Theory" through Žižek's work (alongside a deeper reading of Marx, which would take much further work beyond the scope of this paper) reveals that the ideology behind so-called "Replacement Theory" is grounded in a metaphysics of scarcity, which would not exist in a truly communist society of automatic production, plenitude, and common property rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Filozofski Vestnik is the property of Scientific Research Centre of Slovenian Academy of Sciences & Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Mohsin Hamid's novel, Exit West (2017) takes place in a world where magical doorways allow refugees passage between countries. Following the couple Saeed and Nadia -- refugees from an unnamed city undergoing fundamentalist insurrection -- the novel explores their grappling amid different political tensions. While commentators have discussed the way Hamid re-frames migration as form of connectivity, and the portals as utopian forms of escape, this article investigates the economic specificities of such connectivity, through three near-future communities that Hamid imagines for Nadia and Saeed: a Kensington townhouse reclaimed by refugees, the "London Halo" work-for-housing program, and the shanty city of Marin, San Francisco. These collectives defy the logic of capitalist realism (Fisher). In this way, utopian potential exists within the novel both in terms of magical thinking against the system (Adorno) and as embodied forms of solidarity amid crisis (Žižek and Jameson). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a slightly modified version of the first part of Chapter 4 of Revoluciones sin sujeto. Slavoj Žižek's y la crítica del historicismo posmoderno (Madrid: Akal, 2015) translated by Douglas Kristopher Smith and Nicolas Lema Habash. This text seeks to overcome the scission between Slavoy Žižek and Michel Foucault by challenging the notion that Foucault lacks an ontology of power, beyond contingent historical processes. By exposing the underlying Nietzschean relational ontology of struggle--as distinct from a fundamental, positive grounding--in Foucault's work, the piece shows how this aspect has been largely misunderstood--including by Žižek himself. Furthermore, it demonstrates how this agonistic ontology of human experience can serve to shed light on Žižek's notion of the incompleteness of the subject by bringing it into the realm of politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study tries to reconsider the social outburst that took place in Chile on October 18, 2019. This will be carried out based primarily on the notion of symptom in Freud and in light of two relevant counterpoints regarding this psychoanalytic category, we’re talking about the philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Jacques Derrida. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author attempts to trace the formation of the concept of the subject, beginning with its conceptualization in classical philosophy up to its current state, i.e. reconceptualization. There are three projects of conceptualization of the subject in Western philosophy. The first one has to do with the conceptualization of the subject in classical philosophy from Descartes to Hegel. The concept of the subject was conceived as transparent and operative in regard to a passive object which can eliminate all subjective qualities. The second project is devoted to the deconceptualization of the subject that means the critique of the classical concept of the subject, the discovery of objective forces, such as power, language, the unconscious, society, which impact the subject and reduce its subjectivity to objectivity. The third one is about the reconceptualization of the subject: rethinking of the classical concept of the subject, given the critique undertaken within the deconceptualization project. The project of subject reconceptualization deals with a paradoxical situation: despite the objective determination of the subject, the subject remains the subject not reducible to an object. The subject appears non-substantial and non-transparent, disconnected, historical and temporal. The contemporary conception of the subject is constructed in such a way that the subject is never the subject yet, but always presupposes a future subject capable of freely choosing its subjectivity from a multitude of contradictory options. The article suggests a new perspective on the subject, which is seen not only as a human actor, but also as a complex of various objects that behave as subjects, that is, can make objects of themselves. The article shows that before the Cartesian moment the concept of the subject did not exist but was explicitly assumed. Referring to the concept of Foucault, Bourdieu, Althusser and Butler, the author shows the process of the formation of the subject as dependable on power, which is a condition and a possibility for subject to form. Therefore, power addresses to the absent subject as an already formed subject, thereby shaping it and bringing subjectivity into the currently forming subject. The following questions are thus raised: when does the subject become the subject? What precedes the subject? The author attempts to demonstrate that the subject is formed, in a void, since there was nothing before the subject, and it is the subject itself that is eventually formed.

I Zombie es una serie de televisión inspirada en un cómic, en la cual se narran las relaciones de cooperación y conflicto entre zombis y humanos. Dicha convivencia es posible debido a que los zombis se parecen a los humanos cuando están bien alimentados. Esta convivencia representa, de forma figurada, algunos de los conflictos más importantes de nuestro tiempo, como el reconocimiento del otro, los límites de la moralidad kantiana, a favor de la eticidad [sittlichkeit] hegeliana. Además, ilustra problemas más concretos, como la gestión de los flujos de población o la convivencia entre nacionalismos distintos dentro del mismo Estado. Se nos enseña también que la libertad no es una cuestión de pura voluntad moral individual, sino que además necesita de instituciones para desarrollarse, sin que suponga grandes tensiones psíquicas entre egoísmo y altruismo. I Zombieis a television series inspired by a comic book, which depicts the relationship of cooperation and conflict between zombies and humans. This coexistence is made possible by the fact that zombies resemble humans when they are well fed. This coexistence figuratively represents some of the most important conflicts of our time, such as the recognition of the other, the limits of Kantian morality in favour of Hegelian ethical life [sittlichkeit]. It also illustrates more concrete problems, such as the management of population flows or the coexistence of different nationalisms within the same state. We are also taught that freedom is not a matter of purely individual moral will, but that it also needs institutions to develop, without involving great psychic tensions between egoism and altruism.

THE POLITICS OF SYMPTOM: ABOUT THE CHILEAN OCTOBER CRISIS The study tries to reconsider the social outburst that took place in Chile on October 18, 2019. This will be carried out based primarily on the notion of symptom in Freud and in light of two relevant counterpoints regarding this psychoanalytic category, we’re talking about the philosophers Slavoj Žižek and Jacques Derrida.

Signed by the Marxist heritage and the crisis of the subject of emancipation of the seventies, the theoretical stakes of Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Žižek are involved in a tense debate about the political subjects capable of transforming capitalism. The objective of this work is to detect the battle lines that the problem of the political subjects of emancipation raises in these two theoretical devices and to provide a critical analysis of them. Along this path, the authors trace different drifts: while Laclau develops a theory of the constitution of collective identities based on the notions of the people and populism, Žižek replaces the class category and argues that in the chain of anti-system struggles there is one (the class struggle) that over-determines the horizon of the rest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by the work of Slavoj Žižek, critical marketing theorists have identified how ideological fantasies support the capitalist status quo by operating as unconscious fetishes that are difficult to dispel. While these studies suggest that fetishisation is a formidable challenge to critical thought and activism, this think piece considers how fetishistic reversal may provide a means to redirect the ideological fantasies of capitalism towards more critical ends. This line of thinking is pieced together by drawing Žižekean theories alongside the topical example of Net Zero. It is argued that Net Zero is not a politically-neutral target but rather an ideological fantasy that can be interrogated for fetishistic disavowals, inversions and ticklishness. However, it is added that renouncing Net Zero as an ideological fantasy is likely to be unproductive, or even counter-productive. Instead, critical marketing scholars should proceed by reversing fetishistic effects. Developing Žižek's notion of Less Than Nothing, it is suggested that Net Zero should be transposed with the more radical target of Less Than Net Zero. This piece concludes by thinking about the application of fetishistic reversal to other socioecological issues in order to push critical marketing theory further towards a more optimistic horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]