Today we discuss the parallax, one of the fundamental concepts of Žižek’s project. Parallax is “the apparent displacement of an object” wherein the observed difference is not simply relativized, but rather inscribed as a gap into the relation between subject and object. We find examples of the parallax view in the Coen brothers’ film Burn After Reading, and Coppola’s The Conversation; and consider Kant’s designation of phenomena and noumena as setting the framework through which to consider the parallax shift in Hegel’s notion of the subject. We also touch on Heidegger’s “ontological difference”, Lacan’s objet petit a as a parallax object, and the parallax as the very method by which these figures are read by Žižek.
The reading material for the episode can be found here: https://www.lacan.com/zizparallax.htm
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