Product Description

Very Little ... Almost Nothing puts the question of the meaning of life back at the centre of intellectual debate. Its central concern is how we can find a meaning to human finitude without recourse to anything that transcends that finitude. A profound but secular meditation on the theme of death, Critchley traces the idea of nihilism through Blanchot, Levinas, Jena Romanticism and Cavell, culminating in a reading of Beckett, in many ways the hero of the book. 
In this second edition, Simon Critchley has added a revealing and extended new preface, and a new chapter on Wallace Stevens which reflects on the idea of poetry as philosophy.

Customer Reviews (2)

One of the most crucial philosophical pieces of the 20th cen
Critchley portrays an honest and straight-foreward picture of man's nihilistic state in a harsh and uncertain reality.The book begins with an intro to give the reader some background and justification for our meaningless existence in a world absent of God.He then moves on to present the reader three sections/lectures in which he analyzes specific aspects of literature, philosophy, and death in order to set the stage for his synthesis in the end of the third section.The first lecture focuses on Blanchot and Levinas's concept of the impossibility of death.The second discusses the failure of romanticism (and indirectly transhumanism)through analyzing authors such as Emerson and Cavell.The third lecture, and perhaps my favorite, addresses Beckett's abstractions of the ungraspable; that of our own finitude and innevitable death. I was somewhat dismayed by the author's neglect to translate a number of French and some German quotes into English, leaving the reader on his own to look up what it meant if he wasnt fortunate to already know.I sometimes found myself lost at first, having no background information on some of the philosophers that Critchley critiqued (Blanchot, Cavell, etc.). Yet I must insist that the reader push on regardless, because the final synthesis that is presented is overwhelmingly important and original.The author explains to us the failure of religion and of life-affirming existentialisms (via the will to power (Nietzsche) or simply the will (Camus, et al)) and offers what is left, a minimalistic condition, to grab on to in the face of the abyss. This concept earned it my 5-star review - don't let the bookcover make you pass this one up.

Life as the Meaning of Life
Very Little, Almost Nothing is a remarkable response to nihilism in our age, the age of the "Death of God." What, Critchley asks, is the meaning of human life faced with death and the impossibility of religioussalvation? With poignantly perceptive and erudite analyses he counteractsthe two most dominant and dangerous responses to nihilism: apathy and thedesire to overcome nihilism with some other form of transcendance. ForCritchley, the appropriate response to nihilism lies not in establishing ameaning for life outside of life but in revisioning the everyday existencewe all must lead. The true merit and deepest insights of this book lie inits ability to open the reader, at once, to the beauty and frightfulness ofradically finite existence. ... Read more

Product Description
Written by a former student of Heidegger, this book examines the relationship between the philosophy and the politics of a celebrated teacher and the allure that Nazism held out for scholars committed to revolutionary nihilism. ... Read more

Product Description

In The Will to Technology and the Culture of Nihilism, Arthur Kroker explores the future of the 21st century in the language of technological destiny.Presenting Martin Heidegger, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Nietzsche as prophets of technological nihilism, Kroker argues that every aspect of contemporary culture, society, and politics is coded by the dynamic unfolding of the 'will to technology.'

Moving between cultural history, our digital present, and the biotic future, Kroker theorizes on the relationship between human bodies and posthuman technology, and more specifically, wonders if the body of work offered by thinkers like Heidegger, Marx, and Nietzsche is a part of our past or a harbinger of our technological future. Heidegger, Marx, and Nietzsche intensify our understanding of the contemporary cultural climate. Heidegger's vision posits an increasingly technical society before which we have become 'objectless objects'? driftworks in a 'culture of boredom.' In Marx, the disciplining of capital itself by the will to technology is a code of globalization, first announced as streamed capitalism. Nietzsche mediates between them, envisioning in the gathering shadows of technological society the emergent signs of a culture of nihilism. Like Marx, he insists on thinking of the question of technology in terms of its material signs.

In The Will to Technology and the Culture of Nihilism, Kroker consistently enacts an invigorating and innovative vision, bringing together critical theory, art, and politics to reveal the philosophic apparatus of technoculture.

Customer Reviews (1)

The Will to Politics and the Culture of Ethics...
When I first came across this outstanding book, I was a little confused as to how Nietzsche and Marx could be read as critics of the technological Enframing, as well as how Heidegger could be read as *politically* radical in any meaningful sense. However, after looking through the various sections dealing with these questions I can see much more clearly now that he is not simply deploying these thinkers in their original bodies, as I was originally thinking, but is instead hybridizing the most critical elements of each of them into a new kind of patchwork, thus allowing each to become much more radical than they would have been prior to this process. Clearly this can be an interesting and productive approach to doing critical theory after the 'death of the author' - there really is no good reason we cannot have for instance, an anarchist Marx, a Marxist Heidegger, or even say, a Nietzschean Virilio (despite his likely protestations). I especially like the way Kroker has been recently emphasizing the importance of bringing back the 'public intellectual', a desire reflected not only in his lecture series and texts accesible for free online, but also in the sympathetic discussion of the antiglobalization movement of the 'digital proletarians' and its unhappy 'double-movement' relationship of resistance to the 'virtual class' - in my mind it is absolutely crucial in our time to tie critical theory to actually existing political struggles and this book does that quite well - well worth the read! ... Read more

Product Description

This comprehensive presentation of Axel Hägerström (1868-1939) fills a void in nearly a century of literature, providing both the legal and political scholar and the non-expert reader with a proper introduction to the father of Scandinavian realism. Based on his complete work, including unpublished material and personal correspondence selected exclusively from the Uppsala archives, A Real Mind follows the chronological evolution of Hägerström’s intellectual enterprise and offers a full account of his thought. The book summarizes Hägerström’s main arguments while enabling further critical assessment, and tries to answer such questions as: If norms are neither true nor false, how can they be adequately understood on the basis of Hägerström’s theory of knowledge? Did the founder of the Uppsala school uphold emotivism in moral philosophy? What consequences does such a standpoint have in practical philosophy? Is he really the inspiration behind Scandinavian state absolutism?A Real Mind places the complex web of issues addressed by Hägerström within the broader context of 20^th century philosophy, stretching from epistemology to ethics. His philosophy of law is examined in the core chapters of the book, with emphasis on the will-theory and the relation between law and power. The narrative is peppered with vignettes from Hägerström’s life, giving an insightful and highly readable portrayal of a thinker who put his imprint on legal theory. The appendix provides a selected bibliography and a brief synopsis of the major events in his life, both private and intellectual.

Product Description
In 1962, the young Eugene Rose undertook to write amonumental chronicle of the abandonment of Truth in the modern age. Ofthe hundreds of pages of material he compiled for this work, only thepresent essay has come down to us in completed form. Here Eugenereveals the core of all modern thought and life--the belief that alltruth is relative--and shows how this belief has been translated intoaction in our century. Today, three decades after he wrote it, thisessay is surely timelier than ever. It clearly explains whycontemporary ideas, values, and attitudes--the "spirit of theage"--are shifting so rapidly in the direction of moral anarchy, asthe philosophy of Nihilism enters more deeply into the fiber ofsociety. Nietszche was right when he predicted that the 20th centurywould usher in "the triumph of Nihilism."

Indeed, the Christian is--in an ultimate sense--a "Nihilist"; to him,in the end, the world is nothing, and God is all. On the one hand, thetrue Nihilist places his faith in things that pass away and end innothing. On the other hand, the Christian, renouncing such vanity,places his faith in the one thing that will not pass away, the Kingdomof God. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

The Biography of Modernity
It has been a while since I read this, but it left such a deep mark that I felt compelled to write a review. Even though the reviews thus far have expressed well the power in this work, I only wanted to mention that, in my case, I could not help but feel exposed by his insights. I felt like he described me, though not as I would like to see myself. The incipient nihilism that lurks below stated ideals is what it seems to me Father Seraphim is aiming at. His desire is not so much to attack an explicit philosophy of nihilism, but to expose and diagnose the lifestyle-nihilism that most of us live with. Quite to my astonishment I felt compelled to repent of my own atheism, though I never really realized I was atheist, nor would I have desired to be. I simply realized that I swallowed the modern faithless worldview and ignorantly and unconsciously lived out its ideals. Of this I am ashamed, and am thankful to God and Father Seraphim Rose for showing me not just the darkness lurking in the world, but also the darkness lurking in my own heart.

In the context of his other work, sadly revealing ...
I'd have to say SR has allot to say about this subject that is true and prescient. Indeed nihlism in our time has spawned a cruel age so here I'd like to quote L. Trilling:
"It is possible that the contemplation of cruelty will not make us humane but cruel; that the reiteration of the badness of our spiritual condition will make us consent to it."
I use this quote because many of Seraphim Rose's books are bizarre; in part some would say fabrications others would say delusional.Many make a carreer consenting to " the badness of our spiritual condition" while swaythed in robes of self sanctity and delusion, in the context of his other works one has to be ever vigilant of this type of "spirituality"! I admire the struggle of this man but ... and will leave it at that.

Not for the faint of heart.
This book is brilliantly done and provocative. It makes you think about what is going on around you and helps search for a deeper meaning of truth in your life. Could be years before I fully understand it.

Diagnosing Modernity
When he was still a catechumen of the Russian Church Abroad, long before he became Fr. Seraphim, Eugene Rose had a grand conception, which was a work to be entitled "The Kingdom of Man and the Kingdom of God"; it was to be a spiritual history of Mankind, and a comprehensive contrast between two disparate world-views, that which places its hope on the ability of Humanity to master itself and its environment, and that which places its hope soley on God, and looks to the advent of the heavenly kingdom at the end of this age as the only solution to the world's problems.Like most incredibly ambitious projects, it failed to be completed; all that came of it was a large pile of notes and one finished chapter.After his early death at the age of forty-eight, that chapter was published as "Nihilism".

After becoming a monk, Fr. Seraphim lost all interest in philosophical discourse as an end in itself, and his writing became much more down-to-earth, and focused entirely on "pastoral" concerns, though he continued to utilise his incisive intellect and profound scholarship in adressing these concerns.He refused to have this book published during his life, though urged to do so by a brother monk.Perhaps it was an ego thing with him, and he didn't want the temptation to intellectual pride that might result from its publication, but the work also seems very dark and heavy to many readers, so perhaps he didn't want to risk darkening any spirits in our already dark and oppresive times.I think it must remain an open question whether the author of this work would have been pleased by its publication.

For myself, I am glad the decision to publish was made; more than any other work, this book helped coalesce my view of intellectual history, bringing meaning to things before unclear to me.Fr. Seraphim is as good as Chesterton in that way; much less witty, of course, but also much more deeply spiritual.Not even his worst enemy could justly accuse Fr. Seraphim of frivolity.

The best parts of the book are the chapter where he diagnoses the different stages of nihilism, demonstrating that movements which seem wholly divergent and even contradictory are in fact involved in the same nihilist dialectic; the parts where he demonstrates that all characteristic modern movements are involved in this dialectic, especially his analysis of successive periods of modern art, in which he clearly sees the face of the "last Man" emerging, and the final chapter, in which he addresses the question "after Nihilism, what"?The last few paragraphs of the book have a power rarely to be found in any form of literature, let alone works on philosophical topics, which tend to be rather dry and listless.

The only problems with the book have to do with the editing, which is inferior to that of most of the other publications of St. Herman's.The editor's introduction presents a rather whimsical portrait of Eugene Rose, which wouldn't do much toward making me want to read the book if I weren't already inclined to do so.Likewise, the photo chosen to demonstrate Fr. Seraphim's "sobriety" of demeanour to me makes him look like one of the people who habitually wander through bus terminals, for whom sobriety is not the most notable feature.The essay appended to the end of the book reads like a first draft of the book itself, in that it covers much of the same material, but is much less precise in expression, and is wandering and disjointed; coming immediately after the most powerful paragraphs in the book, it in effect diminishes the impact the book would have if it were allowed to end on a high note.For those not accustomed to reading philosophical material, a glossary would be of great assistance.

Despite these detractions, this is a great book.If you are at all sympathetic with the author's perspective, it will resonate in the core of your being.Though it is a very short book, I can think of no other work which has so profoundly affected me.

A physician diagnoses post-modern ills
I "met" Fr. Seraphim Rose, of blessed memory, through several books and short articles he wrote during my 4-year soujourn in Eastern Orthodoxy. This one on Nihilism is his best.

Now, Fr. Seraphim Rose spent his hieromonastic life in a very conservative (some may say traditionalist, others may say truly orthodox) body called the Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. After a life of intellectual pursuits and even dabbling into Buddhism, Eugene Rose converted to Orthodoxy and joined this ecclesial body and then co-founded a monastic community in California. Fr. Rose was deeply infuenced by traditional Russian Orthodox spirituality and mysticism, particularly that of the elders or "staretsi" of the Optina Monastery.

The quality of Fr. Seraphim Rose's work is uneven, at times truly erudite, at times approaching the tendency for shrill overstatement that characterizes so much of the Christian-Orthodox-Catholic ultra-traditionalist camps. Thankfully, Nihilism is mostly free from this tendency.

Fr. Seraphim followed a physician's approach in his Nihilism: first, he studied and described the symptoms, then he identified the underlying causes, then he prescribed a cure. The Introduction set the scope of Fr. Seraphim's critique of the modern age:

"What is the Nihilism in which we have seen the root of the Revolution of the modern age? The answer, at first thought, does not seem difficult; several obvious examples of it spring immediately to mind. There is Hitler's fantastic program of destruction, the Bolshevik Revolution, the Dadaist attack on art; there is the background from which these movements sprang, most notably represented by several "possessed" individuals of the late nineteenth century--poets like Rimbaud and Baudelaire, revolutionaries like Bakunin and Nechayev, "prophets" like Nietzsche; there is, on a humbler level among our contemporaries, the vague unrest that leads some to flock to magicians like Hitler, and others to find escape in drugs or false religions, or to perpetrate those "senseless" crimes that become ever more characteristic of these times. But these represent no more than the spectacular surface of the problem of Nihilism. To account even for these, once one probes beneath the surface, is by no means an easy task; but the task we have set for ourselves in this chapter is broader: to understand the nature of the whole movement of which these phenomena are but extreme examples."

Fr. Seraphim did not restrict himself to theology as one would expect from a monk, but also examined philosophy, art, music, politics, got to the critical core and then laid it bare. The result is a devastating critique of every assumption, every idea, underlying Western Civilization from the Enlightenment onwards. ... Read more

Product Description

Among all the great thinkers of the past two hundred years, Nietzsche continues to occupy a special place--not only for a broad range of academics but also for members of a wider public, who find some of their most pressing existential concerns addressed in his works. Central among these concerns is the question of the meaning of a life characterized by inescapable suffering, at a time when the traditional responses inspired by Christianity are increasingly losing their credibility. While most recent studies of Nietzsche's works have lost sight of this fundamental issue, Bernard Reginster's book The Affirmation of Life brings it sharply into focus.

Reginster identifies overcoming nihilism as a central objective of Nietzsche's philosophical project, and shows how this concern systematically animates all of his main ideas. In particular, Reginster's work develops an original and elegant interpretation of the will to power, which convincingly explains how Nietzsche uses this doctrine to mount a critique of the dominant Christian values, to overcome the nihilistic despair they produce, and to determine the conditions of a new affirmation of life. Thus, Reginster attributes to Nietzsche a compelling substantive ethical outlook based on the notions of challenge and creativity--an outlook that involves a radical reevaluation of the role and significance of suffering in human existence.

Replete with deeply original insights on many familiar--and frequently misunderstood--Nietzschean concepts, Reginster's book will be essential to anyone approaching this towering figure of Western intellectual history.

Customer Reviews (5)

From a Lay-Reader's Perspective...
"The Affirmation of Life" is a systematic analysis of the complex relationships among nihilism and Nietzsche's concepts of the will to power, the revaluation of values, and the eternal recurrence. The argument (very basically) is that in order to overcome the disillusionment and despair that comes from living in a Godless world -- a world devoid of transcendent, objective values -- individuals need to create within themselves a code of life-affirming values that will empower them to embrace, without regret or reservation, every aspect of life: the good and the bad, the peaks and the valleys, the tragedies and the triumphs.The will to power is the means to achieve this.

The author's analysis of Nietzsche's concepts is logically organized and painstakingly developed.However, because of the manner in which the author proceeds with his examination, this is not an easy book to read.First, the author tends to repeat terms, phrases, and ideas during his discussions. While this may be a necessary consequence of the "systematicity" of the author's method of analysis, and while repetition can help maintain clarity and precision in conceptual analysis, it can also become merely repetitive and eventually tedious.Next, the author sometimes digresses into logical and verbal analyses in order to clarify Nietzsche's concepts and terminology.While these analyses are sometimes important for understanding the point being discussed, they also seem, at times, to be exercises in logical and verbal analysis.Also, the author creates his own philosophical terms as he analyzes Nietzsche's ideas.New conceptual investigations require new conceptual instruments; but they can also be distracting, especially when the reader is trying to follow the main line of discussion. Finally, the book presupposes familiarity with Nietzsche's philosophy; so unless -- or until -- you're familiar with Nietzsche's ideas, you may want to save this book for later.

Mr. Reginster is obviously an authority on the philosophy of Nietzsche, and "The Affirmation of Life" is an authoritative analysis of many of Nietzsche's most important concepts.However, it's also an "academic" work, and therefore not easily accessible for novice readers of Nietzsche.Nevertheless, the merit of this book is undeniable, and it will prove to be a valuable contribution to the canon of Nietzsche exegesis.

Generally well-executed analysis and interpretation of Nietzsche's thought
I will first echo some of the other reviewers by saying that some small parts of this book are "long-winded" and "redundant." But I suspect that goes to reflect Professor Reginster's rigor in trying to make his points clear. Overall, this book is a masterful achievement in great part because of its lucidity (not to mention its comprehensiveness), as others have said. This is especially the case because, in spite of the efforts of Walter Kaufman and others, Nietzsche has remained associated mostly with a certain image of supposedly-"Dyonisian" self-indulgence: self-indulgence against orders and conventions, as a gesture of supposed power and freedom. This I think is still best exemplified by the literary attitudes of a number of Nietzche's "continental" heirs (post-modern and otherwise) as well as their moles in North-American humanities departments. (I say this with love, by the way: their approach serves its purpose.)

With that in mind, I am always delighted to find a "conventional" philosophy professor at an "established" North-Eastern American university willing to, not only declare what many readers of Niezsche understand intuitively (which is that nihilism was the core concern that Niezsche tried to both address and escape), but also actually address it head on, "analytically" in a non-technical sense.

More specifically, Professor Reginster presents Nietzsche's thought (including his great themes, such as the "will to power" and "eternal recurrence") as the expression of a struggle to overcome Schopenhauerian nihilism--at the core of which he finds a condemnation of life as essentially painful (using "pain" in an especially broad sense here), and a condemnation of pain as essentially evil. Nietzsche's great response, the professor shows us, was to rehabilitate pain: to try to resuscitate the idea that some pain is good. "Good" not just in the weak sense that it is something which it is sometimes good to "put up with," but rather in the strong sense that it is an essentially desirable aspect of life: one ought to seek painful encounters (at least certain types of painful encounter) for the sake of finding something always greater to overcome.

As you may see, this, on the surface, is a paradoxical thought. But professor Reginster manages to show how it might make sense. (And I am saying this even though, under my own approach, resolving this paradox seems somewhat... unnecessary.)

Highly recommended for "serious" Nietzsche readers and "serious" thinkers on nihilism in general.

A comprehensive and cohesive book on Nietzsche
I think this book was great. Although Nietzsche is one of the greatest philosophers, his written works and thoughts are sometimes fragmented and appear to be somewhat contradictory. Bernard Reginster, pulls together most of Nietzsche's major thoughts into a format that makes it easier to comprehend and digest. After reading this book, I can say I have a greater understanding of Nietzsche's philosophy. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has enjoyed any of Nietzsche's writings.

Very well done.
This book has its minor faults, such as the propensity to get long winded and/or redundant at times, however as a whole it is a fabulous contribution to the wide berth of secondary lit on this giant. Reginster's systematic approach is controversial in of itself, but his arguments are well developed and do have a good deal of support. He addresses alternate interpretations of Nietzsche's thought, and discusses these other views in some depth. In all, the book concludes with a coherent and plausible interpretation of Nietzsche that is original enough to be fresh and will assuredly get one thinking again. In all, the book is most certainly worth reading, and I would recommend it highly.

An Assignment Among the Herculean Labors
This was an extremely dense (and intense) book, but that really was not the greatest annoyance I found.The first half is liberally sprinkled with unnecessary redundancies--less dedicated readers may find themselves thoroughly frustrated with such a thing; yet in spite of this, my interest remained strong: for although certainly not a novel, I awaited the tying-up of loose ends and for Reginster to expound upon his theory with finality.Such was the case in the second half of the work, which I felt completely rejuvenated his project--and not that he needs it from me, but as an advocate of Nietzsche's work myself, Reginster definitely has my backing as a new, brilliant, and fresh authority on, perhaps, the most misunderstood thinker of the last two centuries.This is without question not a starting point for those new to the Nietzsche corpus--though some will be tantalized simply by his name appearing in the title--this is a comprehensive view, with great stress placed upon two main themes of Nietzsche's pen: the will to power and the eternal recurrence.Reginster's clarification of the spurious presence of "The Will to Power", his endlessly helpful citing of Nietzsche's writings (not to deny Kant's and Schopenhauer's), and most importantly his lack of traditional views regarding Nietzsche make this book highly recommended--its flaws are not damaging to its credibility, and if you have the prior experience of Nietzsche and the patience for wading through the comprehensive approach presented here, you will find it an invaluable tool in your contemplations or pontifications of its targeted author.Bravo, Reginster! ... Read more

Product Description
"Return to Good and Evil: Flannery O'Connor's Response to Nihilism is a superb guide to the works of Flannery O'Connor; and like O'Connor's stories themselves, it is captivating, provocative, and unsettling. Edmondson organizes O'Connor's thought around her principal concern, that with the nihilistic claim that ""God is dead"" the traditional signposts of good and evil have been lost. Edmondson's book demonstrates that the combination of O'Connor's artistic brilliance and philosophical genius provide the best response to the nihilistic despair of the modern world--a return to ""good and evil"" through humility and grace." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Flannery O'Connor scholars will find this book relevant and useful --
With the enormous influence that Flannery O'Connor's works have had on students, scholars and other writers, this volume is a welcome addition to O'Connor scholarship.

The teaching role of Edmondson's discussions of O'Connor's perspectives on good and evil and of her views of the intervention of God's grace in the affairs of humankind, are especially insightful. His views on the pervasiveness of humankind's descent into nihilism are very thought-provoking.

Readers of this book--just like readers of Flannery O'Connor's works--may find themselves affected by the content far more than they might imagine. ... Read more

Product Description
An important literary and philosophical figure,Georges Bataille has had a significant influence on other French writers, such as Foucault, Derrida and Baudrillard. The Thirst for Annihilation is the first book in English to respond to Bataille's writings. In no way, though, is Nick Land's book an attempt to appropriate Bataille's writings to a secular intelligibility or to compromise with the aridity ofacademic discourse - rather, it is written as a communion .Theoretical issues in philosophy, sociology, psychodynamics, politics and poetry are discussed, but only as stepping stones into the deep water of textual sacrifice where words pass over into the broken voice of death. Cultural modernity is diagnosed down to its Kantian bedrock with its transcendental philosophy of the object, but Bataille's writings cut violently across this tightly disciplined reading to reveal the strong underlying currents that bear us towards chaos and dissolution - the violent impulse to escape, the thirst for annihilation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Unrateable
Goodness, what an ... odd book. I picked it up in essay crisis mode (i.e. I grabbed anything in the library with the word Bataille in the title) and that's how I encountered Land's book. I have never read anything odder in my life. If you're after a straightforward Bataille crit, then this is not the book for you - it has about 2 useful pages'-worth of material in it. If you want to feel like you put your head into a tumble-dryer full of acid and leprechauns and things, then give this book a go. Land's approach to Bataille is a two-way process - he engages with Bataille's thought, and his writing is very much an attempt to write in an authentically Bataillean way. Hence the descriptions of drunkenness, of anger, of madness. You certainly couldn't accuse Land of being conventional. And the dedication is hilarious - worth the cover price by itself.

Read this and expand your mental borders a bit.

This piece of hole for madmen
I cannot compare reading this book to any other book I have read. It is not a poem. It is not a fiction. Philosophy? No, obviously not. Nick Land curses philosophy and everything about it but its philosophical chapters are sharp, intelligent, rich and mysteriously gloomy. If demons wished to write a book, all together, then you could expect to read this book. Gilles Deleuze and Flix Guattari once shouted "they are already a crowd". Thirst for Annihilation has been written by a legion. Nick Land deserves to go to hell because of writing a book like this, feit de viande et de sperme fou. I cast my vote with the close-minded reviewer who has given such a book just one star: "Don't read this book." It has not been written for you, human!

Nick Land and Victor Vitanza
I remember when i was student and studying this book with Prof. Victor Vitanza who loved this book. we grew up with this book, Lyotard's libidinal economy and DG's Anti-Oedipus. We discussed that Nick Land's book is an independent work which itself is a masterpiece or at least too thrilling to bear. Although this book is very difficult and english is my second language but it is the best book i have ever read so far. this reviewer who has given it one star either doesn't understand bataille at all or has some personal issues with the writer. i don't wonder how UK reviewers hated this man when he did a radical thing and went to China and started to work as an unknown columnist. his later texts and his writings on America and War should be read with no moral presuppositions as this great book suffers no morality; i imagine they have hidden purposes behind thier clear messages. i don't exaggerate when i claim Nick Land is the bravest writer in our time compared to Lautreamont, Celine, Vian, Sade and Bataille himself. It is too much to ask UK readers or other enemies of this book and its writer to put thier hatred and rigid values aside and look deep into this book. if i could only offer this book 10 stars...

Onanistic hubris
Quite simply the most misguided, irritating, self-indulgent...let's just say the worst text ever written on Bataille (although I certainly do not limit its putrescence to Bataille literature alone). On every page this author is practically screaming, "Look at me! I can be like him! I'm the Ass who saw the Angel (yes, he wishes he were Nick Cave too, I imagine) I can write like him!". Seriously... perhaps the lowest point...an anecdote...a guy walks into a bar and explains to the bartender that he just cut the throat of God. It doesn't, nay can't get any worse than this.

A PIT FULL OF BAT DUNG
Even better than Bataille's works ... this is a dangerous book indeed. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of Philosophy, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2385 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Explores major marketing and advertising campaigns from 1999-2006. Entries profile recent print, radio, television, billboard and Internet campaigns. Each essay discusses the historical context of the campaign, the target market, the competition, marketing strategy, and the outcome. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Philosophy Education Society, Inc. on September 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1314 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Wilshire, Bruce. Fashionable Nihilism: a Critique of Analytic Philosophy.(Book Review)
Author: Daniel (Irish statesman) O'Connell
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2004
Publisher: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
Volume: 58Issue: 1Page: 202(4)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Albert Camus (French pronunciation (7 November 1913 ? 4 January 1960) was an Algerian-French author, philosopher, and journalist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957. He is often cited as a proponent of existentialism (the philosophy that he was associated with during his own lifetime), but Camus himself refused this particular label. Specifically, his views contributed to the rise of the more current philosophy known as absurdism. He wrote in his essay The Rebel that his whole life was devoted to opposing the philosophy of nihilism while still delving deeply into individual freedom. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Philosophy Education Society, Inc. on June 1, 1995. The length of the article is 494 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Psychology and Nihilism: A Genealogical Critique of the Computational Model of Mind.
Author: Miles Groth
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 1995
Publisher: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
Volume: v48Issue: n4Page: p894(2)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description

Gianni Vattimo reexamines the roots of modernism and postmodernism in Nietzsche, Benjamin, and Heidegger. Exploring the links between concepts of nihilism and destiny in nineteenth-century humanism, Vattimo follows these trends in aesthetic and scientific theory from Benjamin to Bloch, Ricoeur, and Kuhn.

Customer Reviews (2)

How is nihilism our new condition?
Vattimo continues to issue his argument for a soft-ontology after metaphysics has suffered from the end of absolutes.The end is nothing...nihilism.I am convinced that Vattimo and others like him are correct in accessing our age as technocratic nihilism but I am not convinced that Vattimo's soft-ontology is much more than a "practical" excuse to live as though there is meaning even though tying life to shared experience is impossible.The only real impossibility is that life is impossible.Is a new motivation for innovation and culture possible if we admit with Vattimo that nihilism "gesture[s] toward a new human experience" (26)?I am not convinced that he demonstrates this.Instead I see Vattimo arguing for a kind of soft-ontology that attempts to balance the reification of objective language with the broader givens of life experience that are coordinated in forms of life.Although I am not convinced of Vattimo's vision for life and society after nihilism I do think this book is worthy of a serious read.

Vattimo's hard to accept tesis about a weak thinking.
This book is important to understand postmodernism. However, i don't imageamerican readers accepting Vattimo's tesis about weak subjet right to havea place in world. Why modern civilization has impossed to us the obligationof being strong and the first in every action as the only way to be allowedas a member of this society? ... Read more

Product Description
First study of Mishima to recount his intellectual background and thought processes, to treat his major works in their proper literary context as philosophic novels, and to show the intimate and integral relation between his thought, psychology, militant sexuality and propensity to violence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Mishima is not that easy to analyze.
The last analysis of Yukio Mishima's novels that I read was Marguerite Yourcenar's Mishima: A Vision Of The Void, which I found unreadable. Though written in a tendentious academic tone, Starrs' book is better. Even as he approvingly quotes Yourcenar, he deflates her idea that Mishima was supposedly drawn to a "Buddhist void," by arguing that Buddhism may actually not have held much meaning for Mishima. To this end, he cites passages from The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion that are antagonistic to Buddhism, and also parts of Runaway Horses that seem more sympathetic to Shintoism. He also rejects other explanations for Mishima's behaviour and writing, such as the "patriotic" explanation. This is a valuable discussion that clears away some of the rhetorical baggage that had been hung on Mishima after his death.

But then Starrs comes up with a new explanation. In his view, Mishima was a Nietzschean nihilist. His novels were philosophical arguments in favour of nihilism, and he made a distinction between "passive" and "active" nihilism. Passive nihilism is the weak, intellectual kind, like that of the Superior in The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion, whereas active nihilism is the strong, violent kind, like that of Isao in Runaway Horses. Then all of Mishima's works fall into this framework. In The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion, Mizoguchi is torn between passive and active nihilism, whereas The Sea Of Fertility is a criticism of passive nihilism, allegedly exemplified by Honda. In this context, the denouement of The Decay Of The Angel is one big expression of nihilism, meant to underscore the futility of the passive version.

Starrs considers The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion to be central to Mishima's work. By contrast, The Sea Of Fertility is "incomplete," because it does not have a character who neatly personifies a clearly demarcated conflict between passive and active nihilism. The protagonists in the last two novels of the tetralogy are more passive, and do not effectively represent active nihilism.

This sounds convincing as long as you use The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion as your main reference point. But in my opinion, that novel is not really that important. It is definitely a "philosophical" novel, though I'd pick Dostoevsky over Nietzsche as the biggest influence. But that influence makes it one of Mishima's least distinctive works. It's too glib, the lines are too clearly demarcated.

After that novel, Mishima drew away from this overtly "philosophical" style of writing. The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With The Sea is somewhat similar, in that it describes a precocious youth who moves from passive intellectual brooding to violent action, but the portrayal of the character is completely different. There's now something petty about him. His very seriousness is kind of ridiculous. Toru in The Decay Of The Angel has similar inclinations, but is resoundingly condemned.

Let's look at Ying Chan in The Temple Of Dawn. Starrs considers her a shining example of passive nihilism. He calls her "lecherous" and "evil," and states that she personifies "passive femininity," as opposed to the more manly active form of nihilism. This assertion is crucial to one of his arguments, which is that Mishima used the increasingly passive "incarnations" to illustrate the decline of the world.

But unlike Toru, Ying Chan is portrayed sympathetically. In the beginning of the book, when Honda sees her as a child, she makes a very pure impression. This is a key scene, because the book never focuses on her to this degree again, so it shapes much of our perception of Ying Chan. But she stays out of the picture not because of her passive femininity, but because the narrative has begun to constrict around Honda. We only see her when he does. This shows Honda's distance from youth and his inward retreat, not Ying Chan's evil.

And Ying Chan is hardly lecherous. After all, she resists the advances of that guy Honda sends to seduce her. If anything, she's admirably monogamous. Keiko's the lecherous one. It's more likely that she seduced Ying Chan rather than the other way around.

No, Ying Chan is actually exactly like Kiyoaki and Isao. She's beautiful, but not cold like Toru. Her beauty is effortless, unpremeditated. She's completely carefree, impulsive, and unaware of herself, which is precisely why Honda is drawn to her. In that sense she's much less passive than Kiyoaki. She can't express nihilism, because she doesn't think about such things. The real distinction is not between Kiyoaki and Isao on one hand, and Ying Chan and Toru on the other, but between Toru and the first three. In fact, it is revealed that Toru is not a "true" incarnation. Whereas The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion simply has no characters like Kiyoaki, Isao, and Ying Chan, and it doesn't touch on the real issue at all.

It's not about masculinity against femininity or passivity against action, it's about carefree irrationality against self-aware egoism. At first this sounds similar to the distinction between passive and active nihilism, but the thing is, self-aware egoism doesn't need to be passive or nihilistic. Mizoguchi's egoism isn't in conflict with his action, it leads him to it. His action is too theatrical and self-justifying to express a rejection of life. Actually it makes him want to live!

Starrs categorizes Toru as passive, because that fits into his explanation, but he isn't. When Honda adopts him, he is galvanized to action of sorts, and he's very capable at it. Whereas Kiyoaki is mostly passive, allowing himself to be consumed by love rather than committing violent acts. Yet it's clearly Toru who's the bad guy.

Then again, the final pages of The Decay Of The Angel imply that the first three incarnations might never have occurred, thus depriving them of meaning. The word "nihilism" is already too intellectual and self-aware to describe this irrational ending. Honestly, I think The Sea Of Fertility is impervious to critical analysis. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent
This book is a major achievement in the field of nihilistic research, both within life and within literature. Glicksberg's introduction itself is a profound and insightful analysis of nihilistic life and the problems of such. What purpose is there to life if life itself is meaningless, truth and absolutes having become delegitimated? How does a writer who engages his/her characters in a nihilistic universe find meaning in his/her work, "realizing as he does so that literature is in itself but a symbolic confrontation of reality that can illuminate but cannot solve his existential conflict" (18)? The nihilist finds himself resolved to an existentialist frame of mind, Christianity being but another attempt to impose order on a universe governed by entropy. So, "[i]f all things begin and end in naught, then why strive, why live, why perpetuate the race" (14)? I believe that this book, as well as the philosophy of nihilism, addresses questions that are prevalent in our (post)modern society. A must read for anyone who questions the absurdity and paradoxes of life. ... Read more

Product Description
Jean-Luc Nancy is known to be one of the principal contributors to postmodern theory of community. This book examines Nancy's concept of community as it is presented in his two books The Sense of the World" and "The Inoperative Community". To obviate both myth and nihilism Nancy suggests a concept of community based on the ontology of event. At the same time he proceeds from the experience of addressing and exposing which in fact exceeds this ontology. Moreover it implies different ethical attitude - addressing/exposing and establishing ties with others instead of maintaining flowing identity (openness toward the coming). Therefore Nancy's approach - in spite of his own intention - demonstrates the impossibility of reducing community to ontology. Community calls for the deciding subject the one who is not merely an effect of differance but devotes her- or himself to the very project of "being-together".The book is intended for those interested in philosophy literary and political studies as well as French studies. "PHI000000Oleg Domanov PhD. Studied Philosophy at Novosibirsk State University and Gender Studies at Central European University, Budapest and Open University, London. He is currently a researcher at the Institute for Philosophy and Law in Novosibirsk. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Review of Metaphysics, published by Philosophy Education Society, Inc. on September 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1692 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Nihilism before Nietzsche.(Review)
Author: John C. McCarthy
Publication: The Review of Metaphysics (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2000
Publisher: Philosophy Education Society, Inc.
Volume: 54Issue: 1Page: 140

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale ... Read more

Product Description
Examining multiple academic discourses, PASSIVE NIHILISM argues that contemporary models of history, culture, and language are too reactive for the interpretations associated with "normal criticism". Drawing upon the notions of de Man and Deleuze, the author suggests alternatives to modern scholarly writing. ... Read more