“Confucius was not so much a philosopher as a proto-ideologist: what interested him was not metaphysical Truths but rather a harmonious social order within which individuals could lead happy and ethical lives. He was the first to outline clearly what could lead happy and ethical lives. He was the first to outline clearly what one is tempted to call the elementary scene of ideology, its zero-level, which consists in asserting the (nameless) authority of some substantial Tradition.”

— Slavoj Žižek, book Living in the End Times

Source: Living in the End Times (2010), Chapter One: Denial: The Liberal Utopia

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Slavoj Žižek99

Slovene philosopher 1949

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Original: Triste de quem vive em casa, Contente com o seu lar, Sem que um sonho, no erguer de asa, Faça até mais rubra a brasa Da lareira a abandonar!Triste de quem é feliz! Vive porque a vida dura. Nada na alma lhe diz Mais que a lição da raiz- Ter por vida a sepultura. Poem "O Quinto Império" http://www.inverso.pt/Mensagem/Encoberto/QuintoImperio.htm, lines 1–10 Message

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