Troubling Play is a new and illuminating interpretation of Plato's Parmenides--notoriously the most difficult of the dialogues. Showing that the Parmenides is an inquiry into time and the forms of language, author Kelsey Wood notes that the dialogue's suggestion of sophistry is intended to provoke the silently observant Socrates. The young Socrates believes that knowing is prior to existence, but Parmenides ultimately shows him that the meaning of intelligible discourse is derived from existence in time. Although we cannot think apart from intelligible forms, nevertheless, any number of modes...

A comprehensive overview of Slavoj ?i?ek's thought, including all of his published works to date.

• Provides a solid basis in the work of an engaging thinker and teacher whose ideas will continue to inform philosophical, psychological, political, and cultural discourses well into the future
• Identifies the major currents in ?i?ek's thought, discussing all of his works and providing a background in continental philosophy and psychoanalytic theory necessary to its understanding
• Explores ?i?ek's growing popularity through his engagement in current events,...