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A private reason is no reason at all — Işık Barış Fidaner

I was (supposedly) one of the “authors” of a book project dedicated to the work of Slavoj Žižek. Then I was kicked out by the editor because:
1) I am a friend of Slavoj Žižek.
2) Friends of Žižek mean trouble.
3) She will not take it anymore.
Excluding Žižek’s friends from a book supposedly dedicated to him is quite ironic but the height of irony is the book’s title: How to Think Straight in a Topsy-Turvy World.

I don’t want to bore you with details. Let me just describe and interpret the editor’s modus operandi which might sound familiar:
1) She says that you are an “author” in a project in which she is in charge.
2) She introduces “radical changes” in the project: She kicks an “author” out, brings another “author” in.
3) She presents public explanations to cover for her unexpected actions (e.g. “the project will take a new direction”) but if you push she will ultimately take refuge in “private reasons” in order to exempt her actions from possible questioning.
4) She causes public consequences by exercising power in her private exchanges, e.g. she tells you this: “I’m in charge and I don’t like you and therefore you’re out!”
5) When these exchanges are presented as the evidence of her modus operandi, she calls out: “Privacy violation!”

The greatest problem with this modus operandi is the underlying assumption that the ultimate reference to “private reasons” is the unquestionable basis that makes a project motivating and valuable and real. This reasoning makes no sense. This is not even a reasoning.

On the contrary, the private domain, as the seat of the ego and the imaginary, is always the most questionable and the most suspect domain. Since one’s imaginary is commonly dominated by commodity fetishism and one’s ego is just another commodity in the market of individuals, invoking “private reasons” for the exercise of authority merely manages to expose the scandalous fact that one’s ultimate motivation in taking these actions is to promote the market value of one’s ego.

This is the divided subject hidden below the Master-Signifier in the Master’s discourse: Everything is divided between those things that are useful in promoting the ego, and those things that are useless for promoting the ego: Being in charge of editing a book dedicated to Slavoj Žižek helps the exchange rate of the person’s ego on the academic market, but having real engagements with Slavoj Žižek’s friends causes a decline in her self-image. So what will she do? She will kick Žižek’s friends out of the book dedicated to Žižek and heave a sigh of relief!

Moreover, the private domain is an imaginary market that can value totally random stuff. Privacy is the home of craziness. So a private reason is no reason at all. It can have validity only as an excuse. Exercising power in private (and with an appeal to “private reason”) amounts to demanding people to excuse their erasure which amounts to propagating the contamination of the superego.

It doesn’t matter whether the superego commands you to “be a productive member!” or “beat it!” or “enjoy your life fully!” or “go to hell!” It’s always a demand to excuse your erasure. This is why we must protect public reason from the privatization exemplified by the modus operandi presented here.

Işık Barış Fidaner is a computer scientist with a PhD from Boğaziçi University, İstanbul. Admin of Yersiz Şeyler, Editor of Žižekian Analysis, Curator of Görce Writings. Twitter: @BarisFidaner

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  6. […] A. Barria-Asenjo Committed Treason: Beware of the superego virus! Don’t excuse your erasure! / A private reason is no reason at all / 2022: Slavoj Still Doting Gabriel in: Surplus-Enjoyment / Gabriel Tupinambá’s unwarranted […]

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  7. […] A. Barria-Asenjo Committed Treason: Beware of the superego virus! Don’t excuse your erasure! / A private reason is no reason at all / 2022: Slavoj Still Doting Gabriel in: Surplus-Enjoyment / Gabriel Tupinambá’s unwarranted […]

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  9. […] My analysis of that pivot is public and signed: it is the superego hijack [*]. You gather a crowd in good faith, then flip the vector and dare them to leave. The “permission to criticize” is an alibi; the real demand is that everyone excuse an erasure—first Žižek’s, then their own. When I asked to see Ian Parker’s foreword before finalizing my essay—so I wouldn’t be misrepresented—Nicol told me my request was “impertinent,” informed me, “I am the one who will review those details,” and removed me from the project. When I warned Ian that his name was being used to launder an arbitrary expulsion, Nicol cried “privacy violation.” This is how privatized reason polices public consequence. My counter-principle then and now is simple: a private reason is no reason at all [*]. […]

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  10. […] Bu hamle üzerine analizim kamusal ve imzalıdır: üstben gaspıdır [*]. İyi niyetli bir kalabalık toplarsınız, sonra vektörü çevirir ve onları ayrılmaya cüret etmeye zorlarsınız. ‘Eleştirme izni’ bir mazerettir; gerçek talep, herkesin bir silinişi mazur görmesidir—önce Žižek’in, sonra kendilerinin silinişini. Makalemi sonuçlandırmadan önce Ian Parker’ın önsözünü görmeyi istediğimde—yanlış temsil edilmeyeyim diye—Nicol talebimi ‘küstahça’ buldu, bana ‘Bu detayları gözden geçirecek olan benim’ dedi ve beni projeden çıkardı. Ian’a adının keyfi bir ihraç için aklanma işlevinde kullanıldığını söylediğimde, Nicol ‘mahremiyet ihlali’ diye bağırdı. Özelleştirilmiş akıl kamusal sonucu böyle denetler. O zamanki ve şimdiki karşı-ilkem basittir: özel bir neden, hiçbir neden değildir [*]. […]

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