Peterson–Žižek debate
| Peterson | Žižek |
Happiness: Capitalism vs. Marxism was a debate between Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek on the relationship between Marxism, capitalism and happiness. It took place on April 19, 2019 at the Sony Centre in Toronto, Canada, moderated by Stephen J. Blackwood. Billed by some as "the debate of the century", the event had more tickets scalped than the Toronto Maple Leafs-Boston Bruins playoff on the same day, and selling on eBay for over $300.
In the debate, Peterson and Žižek agreed on many issues, including a criticism of political correctness and identity politics. Both debated about the merits of capitalism with regulation and both rejected happiness as a primary goal for individuals and societies.
Context
During an event at the Cambridge Union Society in November 2018, Žižek had called Peterson's work "pseudo-scientific", labeled him as his "enemy" and criticized Peterson's work on the idea of cultural Marxism. Peterson said he could meet "any time, any place" to debate and it was announced on February 28, 2019 that the debate was scheduled for April 19. The two professors before had argued against happiness as something one should pursue. Peterson had said people should seek meaning through personal responsibility and Žižek had said happiness is pointless and delusional.Debate
Around 3,000 people were in the Sony Centre in Toronto for the event. There was a livestream which people could pay access to that peaked at around 6,000 viewers. The debate was divided into two thirty-minute introductions from each participant, followed by shorter ten minute responses and time at the end for additional comments and answers to questions posed by the moderator. Its topic was which "political-economic model provided the great opportunity for human happiness: capitalism or Marxism".Peterson's opening monologue was a reading and critical analysis of The Communist Manifesto. He asserted that it is wrong to perceive history only through a lens of class struggle, there is no exclusively "good" proletariat and "bad" bourgeoisie, such identity politics is prone to authoritarian manipulation and that people do not climb the social hierarchies only by taking advantage of others according to Peterson. Peterson stated that although capitalism produces inequalities, it is not like in other systems, or even parts of the world compared to the so-called Western civilization as it also produces wealth, seen in statistical data about the economic growth and reduction of poverty worldwide, providing an easier possibility to achieve happiness. He concluded in a Winston Churchill's fashion that "Capitalism is the worst economic system, except for all the others".
At the beginning of his opening monologue, Žižek noted avoidance to participate in the debate in the role of an opponent and that both were victims of left liberals. The monologue itself was less focused as it touched many topics and things like social liberalism, Nazism, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Fyodor Dostoevsky and xenophobia, among others; and against the expectation of the debate format did not defend Marxism. On the example of China, he tried to connect happiness, capitalism and Marxism as well criticize China itself and that "less hierarchical, more egalitarian social structure would stand to produce great amounts of this auxiliary happiness-runoff".
Later in the debate, Žižek agreed with Peterson's opening analysis and called for regulation and limitation of the market for capitalism to reduce the risk of natural and social disasters. Žižek was also critical of the multiculturalist liberals who embody the lie of identity politics and that Western countries should rather fix the situation in immigrants home countries than accept them. Due to lack of defense for Marxism, at one point Peterson asked Žižek why he associates with this ideology and not his philosophical originality, on which Žižek answered that he is rather a Hegelian and that capitalism has too many antagonisms for long-term peaceful sustainability. In a similar fashion, Žižek asked Peterson to name him personal names of "postmodern neo-Marxists" in Western academia and from where he got the statistical numbers because according to him the over-the-top political correctness is opposed to Marxism, on which Peterson did not mention any names, yet statistical percentage of those who declare as Marxists in the academia according to Jonathan Haidt's research and explained replacement of the Marxist idea of class struggle with identity politics by which one group is oppressing the other. Some view this exchange as evidence that cultural Marxism had been invented by Peterson and other members of the intellectual dark web without any evidence of its existence. In the end, they both agreed that happiness is rather a byproduct of life itself.
Reception
Sam Miller and Harrison Fluss of Jacobin magazine reported that Peterson made many factual errors about Marx and Marxism, such as misunderstanding the fundamental principle of the labor theory of value, incorrectly associating Marx broadly with identity politics, and denying the existence of a Marxist philosophy of nature. The Guardian claimed that he was uninformed about The Communist Manifesto and generally ill-prepared for the debate, while Jordan Foissy of Vice magazine maintained that he was "completely vacuous", making claims such as that power is never achieved through the exploitation of people. German magazine Der Spiegel concluded that Zizek won the debate clearly, describing Peterson's attempt at arguing as "vain enough to show up to an artillery charge with a pocket knife".Overall, the Croatian media noted that Peterson was more convincing in the defense of capitalism than did Žižek of Marxism and although both are "pessimists" while Peterson is trying to provide a system of solutions, on the other hand Žižek does not and rather has a rebellious and cynical stance. That their mutual agreements and kindness in a civil discussion also differed from their supporters in the audience.