Ethics of the Real

This revolutionary study of the relationship between Kant's philosophy and Lacan's psychoanalysis affirms Kant's moral importance in the modern world. Kantian ethics propose a moral order independent of any established notion of what is good or any 'human inclination', such as love or sympathy. Many Kantian scholars have attempted to contemporize this revolutionary proposition by interpreting it in a more 'humane' light. Alenka Zupančič moves in the opposite direction, embracing the apparent paradoxes and impossible claims of Kant by calling on the Lacanian concept of the 'Real'. As detailed in a foreword by Slavoj Žižek, Zupančič juxtaposes her readings of the two philosophers, envisioning an 'ethics of the Real', clearing the ground for a radical restoration of the disruptive element in ethics.