How to Repeat Plato? For a Platonism of the Non-All

This chapter starts by presenting a symptomatic cartography of the criticisms Žižek’s last book on Hegel provoked that leads to a longer discussion of one of the most serious critiques of this book yet published, namely that one by Robert Pippin. In a detailed discussion of this critique it demonstrates why and how Žižek’s positions (as a systematic position) needs to be defended against any attack of any so called pragmatist neo-Hegelian. This then leads to a detailed reconstruction of one of the most surprising things that can be found in his Less than Nothing, namely a brilliant reading of Plato. The main aim of the chapter is to demonstrate why Žižek’s overall project (surprising as this might seem) has to be read as being fundamentally Platonist and why this is the seemingly lost cause it makes it worth fighting for.