The Perverse Subject of Politics: Lacan as a Reader of Mohammad Bouyeri

Summary:

The perverse subject acts as an instrument of the Other’s Will, thereby escaping ethical responsibility; the religious fundamentalist takes the position of the pervert by displacing division unto the Other. The fundamentalist knows the Truth and reduces belief to knowledge, taking no account of the truth of lying or deception and admitting no mediation. Like the cynic, the fundamentalist threatens belief, since the fundamentalist does not make an ethical decision to believe.