critical theory with slavoj zizek: the Hegelian “loss of the loss” is in no way a return to full, lossless, identity. Far from it, the “loss of the loss” is precisely the moment when the loss stops being the loss of “something” and becomes the inauguration of an empty space in which the object (“something”) can survive, the moment when the empty space is recognized as pre-dating its contents – the loss opens the space for the arrival of the object. In the “loss of the loss,” the loss remains a loss; it is not “abolished/canceled” in the ordinary sense of the term. The recuperated “positivity” is that of the loss as loss, the experience of the loss as a “positive” – perhaps even “productive”