Cosmic Pessimism by Eugene Thacker

[Mad Madison]

Quote

“We’re doomed.” So begins the work of the philosopher whose unabashed and aphoristic indictments of the human condition have been cropping up recently in popular culture. Today we find ourselves in an increasingly inhospitable world that is, at the same time, starkly indifferent to our species-specific hopes, desires, and disappointments. In the Anthropocene, pessimism is felt everywhere but rarely given its proper place. Though pessimism may be, as Thacker says, the lowest form of philosophy, it may also contain an enigma central to understanding the horizon of the human. Written in a series of fragments, aphorisms, and prose poems, Eugene Thacker’sCosmic Pessimism explores the varieties of pessimism and its often-conflicted relation to philosophy. “Crying, laughing, sleeping—what other responses are adequate to a life that is so indifferent?”

I stumbled upon this this morning. It seems to have a publishing date of August 1st, this year.

Thoughts?

[Jeff Coleman]

My initial thought was "I'd like to read that."

Otherwise, I don't have much to say.

I did find this, though: http://www.continentcontinent.cc/ind...rticle/view/96

[Mad Madison]

It's also available for pre-order on Amazon.com:

Cosmic Pessimism (Univocal): Eugene Thacker: 9781937561475: Amazon.com: Books

 

Cosmic Pessimism (Univocal): Eugene Thacker: 9781937561475: Amazon.com: Books

[Ascrobius]

Why bother...?

I'm staying in bed all of tomorrow, if not for the rest of my life, with a supply of gin.

Mark S.

[Mad Madison]

Quote Originally Posted by mark_samuels

I'm staying in bed all of tomorrow, if not for the rest of my life, with a supply of gin. Mark S.

You know, that sounds ideal, Mark. In fact, I wouldn't mind doing the same myself--minus the gin. Now, whiskey on the other hand...

[Ascrobius]

Splendid, Mark. Splendid.

[ChildofOldLeech]

Baudelaire said it best:
"You have to be always drunk. That's all there is to it--it's the
only way. So as not to feel the horrible burden of time that breaks
your back and bends you to the earth, you have to be continually
drunk.
But on what? Wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But be
drunk.
And if sometimes, on the steps of a palace or the green grass of
a ditch, in the mournful solitude of your room, you wake again,
drunkenness already diminishing or gone, ask the wind, the wave,
the star, the bird, the clock, everything that is flying, everything
that is groaning, everything that is rolling, everything that is
singing, everything that is speaking. . .ask what time it is and
wind, wave, star, bird, clock will answer you: 'It is time to be
drunk! So as not to be the martyred slaves of time, be drunk, be
continually drunk! On wine, on poetry or on virtue as you wish.' "

I suspect good old Baudelaire would trump me every time! Quite so.

Mark S.

[Revenant]

Quote Originally Posted by mark_samuels

I'm staying in bed all of tomorrow, if not for the rest of my life, with a supply of gin. Mark S.

I spend a lot of time in bed. They keep me strapped in, you see.