Jump to content

Eugene Thacker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eugene Thacker
Education
EraContemporary philosophy
RegionWestern philosophy
School
InstitutionsThe New School
Main interests
Notable ideas
  • Cosmic Pessimism
  • The Horror of Philosophy
  • World,EarthandPlanet
  • Dark Media
  • Biomedia
Websiteeugenethacker

Eugene Thackeris an American author. He is Professor of Media Studies atThe New Schoolin New York City.[1]His writing is associated with the philosophy ofnihilismandpessimism.Thacker's books includeIn the Dust of This Planet(part of hisHorror of Philosophytrilogy) andInfinite Resignation.

Early life and education

[edit]

Thacker was born and grew up in thePacific Northwest.[2]He received aBachelor of Artsdegree from theUniversity of Washington,and aMaster of ArtsandDoctor of Philosophyin Comparative Literature fromRutgers University.[3]Prior to teaching at The New School, he was a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication.[4]

Works

[edit]

Nihilism, pessimism, and speculative realism

[edit]

Thacker's work has been associated withphilosophical nihilismandpessimism,as well as tocontemporary philosophiesofspeculative realismandcollapsology.[5]His short bookCosmic Pessimismdefines pessimism as "the philosophical form of disenchantment." As Thacker states: "Pessimism is the night-side of thought, a melodrama of the futility of the brain, a poetry written in the graveyard of philosophy."[6]

In 2018, Thacker's new book,Infinite Resignationwas published byRepeater Books.Infinite Resignationconsists of fragments andaphorismson the nature of pessimism, mi xing the personal and philosophical. Thacker engages with writers likeThomas Bernhard,E.M. Cioran,Osamu Dazai,Søren Kierkegaard,Clarice Lispector,Giacomo Leopardi,Fernando Pessoa,andSchopenhauer.The New York Timesnoted "Thacker has thrown a party for all of these eloquent cranks inInfinite Resignation,and he is an excellent host...This book provides a metric ton of misery and a lot of company. "[7]One reviewer writes of the book: "Infinite Resignationbelongs on the shelf next to the likes of Nietzsche and Schopenhauer...Like all great works of philosophy, this book will force readers to question their long-held beliefs in the way the world works and the way the world ought to work...Thacker's voice is quiet, a desperate whisper into the void that is both haunting and heartbreaking. "[8]

Thacker's major philosophical work isAfter Life,published by the University of Chicago Press. In it, Thacker argues that theontologyof life operates by way of a split between "Life" and "the living," making possible a "metaphysical displacement" in which life is thought via another metaphysical term, such as time, form, or spirit: "Every ontology of life thinks of life in terms of something-other-than-life...that something-other-than-life is most often a metaphysical concept, such as time and temporality, form and causality, or spirit and immanence"[9]Thacker traces this theme inAristotle,Dionysius the Areopagite,John Scottus Eriugena,negative theology,Immanuel Kant,andGeorges Bataille,showing how this three-fold displacement is also alive in philosophy today.[10]After Lifealso includes comparisons withArabic,Japanese,andChinese philosophy.

Thacker's follow-up essay "Darklife: Negation, Nothingness, and the Will-to-Life in Schopenhauer" discusses the ontology of life in terms ofnegation,eliminativism,and "the inverse relationship between logic and life."[11]Specifically, Thacker argues that Schopenhauer's philosophy posits a "dark life" in opposition to the "ontology of generosity" ofGerman Idealistthinkers such as Hegel and Schelling. Thacker has also written in a similar vein on the role of negation and "nothingness" in the work of mystical philosopherMeister Eckhart.[12]Ultimately Thacker argues for a skepticism regarding "life": "Life is not only a problemofphilosophy, but a problemforphilosophy.[13]

Horror and philosophy

[edit]

Thacker's most widely read book isIn the Dust of This Planet,part of hisHorror of Philosophytrilogy.[14]In it, Thacker explores the idea of the "unthinkable world" as represented in thehorror fictiongenre, in philosophies ofpessimismandnihilism,and in the philosophies ofapophatic( "darkness" ) mysticism.[15]In the first volume,In the Dust of This Planet,Thacker calls the horror of philosophy "the isolation of those moments in which philosophy reveals its own limitations and constraints, moments in which thinking Enigma tically confronts the horizon of its own possibility."[16]Thacker distinguishes the "world-for-us" (the human-centric view of the world), and the "world-in-itself" (the world as it exists objectively), from what he calls the "world-without-us": "the world-without-us lies somewhere in between, in a nebulous zone that is at once impersonal and horrific."[17]In this and the other volumes of the trilogy Thacker writes about a wide range of work:H.P. Lovecraft,Algernon Blackwood,Edgar Allan Poe,Dante's Inferno,Les Chants de MaldororbyComte de Lautréamont,theFaustmyth, manga artistJunji Ito,contemporary horror authorsThomas LigottiandCaitlín Kiernan,K-horrorfilm, and the philosophy ofSchopenhauer,Rudolph Otto,Medievalmysticism(Meister Eckhart,Angela of Foligno,John of the Cross),occult philosophy,and the philosophy of theKyoto School.

Thacker's writing on philosophy and horror extends to what he callsdark media,or technologies that mediate between the natural and supernatural, and point to the limit of human perception and knowledge.[18]Similarly, Thacker has written a series of essays on "necrology", defined as the decay or disintegration of thebody politic.[19]Thacker discussesplague,demonic possession,and theliving dead,drawing upon the history of medicine, biopolitics, political theology, and the horror genre.[20]

Philosophy, science, and technology

[edit]

Thacker's earlier works adopt approaches from thephilosophies of scienceandtechnology,and examine the relation between science andscience fiction.[21]Many of his media contributions are developments ofScience and Technology Studies.He has produced theory around how media informs and augments biological processes across several publications. Examples are his bookBiomedia,[22]and his writings onbioinformatics,nanotechnology,biocomputing,complex adaptive systems,swarm intelligence,andnetwork theory.[23]Thacker's concept ofbiomediais defined as follows: "Biomedia entail the informatic recontextualization of biological components and processes, for ends that may be medical or nonmedical...and with effects that are as much cultural, social, and political as they are scientific." Thacker clarifies: "biomedia continuously make the dual demand that information materialize itself...biomedia depend upon an understanding of biological as informational but not immaterial."[24]In his bookThe Global Genome: Biotechnology, Politics, and Culture,Thacker looks to developments in tissue engineering where techno-mechanical apparatuses disappear altogether so that it appears as though technology is the natural body. In Thacker's words, "biotechnology is thus invisible yet immanent."[25]

In 2013 Thacker, along withAlexander GallowayandMcKenzie Wark,published the co-authored bookExcommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation.In the opening of the book the authors ask "Does everything that exists, exist to be presented and represented, to be mediated and remediated, to be communicated and translated? There are mediative situations in which heresy, exile, or banishment carry the day, not repetition, communion, or integration. There are certain kinds of messages that state 'there will be no more messages'. Hence for every communication there is a correlative excommunication."[26]This approach has been referred to as the "New York School of Media Theory."[27]

Other writings

[edit]

Thacker's poetry and prose has appeared in various literary anthologies and magazines. Thacker has produced book arts projects,[28]and ananti-noveltitledAn Ideal for Living,of which American poet and conceptual writerKenneth Goldsmithhas said: "this an important book...these pages take cues from Burroughs and Gibson, while at the same time presciently pointing to the web-based path writing would take over the next decade."[29]In the 1990s, Thacker, along withRonald SukenickandMark Amerika,established Alt-X Press, for which he edited the anthology of experimental writingHard_Code.Thacker is part of the editorial board of underground publisher Schism Press.[30]

Thacker is a contributor toThe Japan TimesBooks section, where he has written about the work ofJunji Ito,Osamu Dazai,Haruo Sato,Keiji Nishitani,Izumi Kyōka,Edogawa Rampo,andZendeath poetry. He wrote a column for London-basedMute Magazinecalled "Occultural Studies," writing about such topics as the Surrealist poetRobert Desnos,Schopenhauer's philosophy, the horror writing ofThomas Ligotti,and the music ofAnd Also The Trees.He has also written Forewords to the English editions of the works ofE. M. Cioran,published by Arcade Press. He has contributed to limited editions books produced by Fiddleblack Press, Infinity Land Press, Locus+, [NAME], Schism, and Zagava Press.

Other activities

[edit]

Thacker has also collaborated with artists and musicians. These include the art collectiveFakeshop,which presented art & installation atArs Electronica,[31]ACM SIGGRAPH,[32]and theWhitney Biennial.[33]He has also collaborated withBiotech Hobbyist,and co-authored an art bookCreative Biotechnology: A User's Manual.[34]In 1998 Thacker produced a CD ofnoise musicreleased byExtreme Recordsand a split CD withMerzbow/Masami Akita, part of the Extreme Records Merzbow Box Set released in 2000.[35]In 2022 Thacker collaborated with Iranian composerSiavash Aminion the album 'Songs for Sad Poets', released on the label Hallow Ground.

Influence

[edit]

In an interview with theWall Street Journal,Nic Pizzolatto,creator and writer ofTrue Detective,cites Thacker'sIn the Dust of This Planetas an influence on the TV series, particularly the worldview of lead characterRust Cohle,along with several other books:Ray Brassier'sNihil Unbound,Thomas Ligotti'sThe Conspiracy Against the Human Race,Jim Crawford'sConfessions of an Antinatalist,andDavid Benatar'sBetter Never to Have Been.[36]

In September 2014 theWNYC'sRadiolabran a show entitled "In the Dust of This Planet." The program traced the appropriation of Thacker's book of the same name in contemporary art, fashion, music video, and popular culture.[37]Both Thacker's book and the Radiolab podcast were covered byGlenn Beckon TheBlazeTV.[38]Thacker has commented on 'nihilism memes' in an interview: "Is it any accident that at a time when we have become acutely aware of the challenges concerning global climate change, we have also created this bubble of social media? I find social media and media culture generally to be a vapid, desperate, self-aggrandizing circus of species-specific solipsism — ironically, the stupidity of our species might be its only legacy."[39]

Thacker and his bookIn the Dust of This Planetare referenced by YouTube channelWisecrack.[40]

Comic book authorWarren Elliscites as an influence the nihilist philosophies of Thacker and Peter Sjöstedt-H for his 2017 seriesKarnak: The Flaw in All Things,a re-imagining of the original MarvelInhumanscharacterKarnak.[41]

The writing of Thacker and Thomas Ligotti is cited as an influence on the 2021 albumThe Nightmare of Beingby the Gothenburg melodic death metal bandAt The Gates;Thacker also provided lyrics for the song "Cosmic Pessimism".[42]

Thacker's writing is cited as an influence on 'Polia & Blastema', an experimental film and opera written and directed byE. Elias Merhige.[43]

Eugene Thacker one of a main character of the animation film Tetragrammaton,[44]the last chapter is devoted to his philosophy.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Hard Code: Narrating the Network Society.Edited by Eugene Thacker. Alt-X Press, 2002.ISBN978-1931560047.
  • Biomedia.University of Minnesota Press, 2004.ISBN978-0816643530.
  • Creative Biotechnology: A User's Manual,co-authored withNatalie JeremijenkoandHeath Bunting.Locus+, 2004.ISBN978-1899377220.
  • The Global Genome: Biotechnology, Politics, and Culture.MIT Press, 2005.ISBN978-0262701167.
  • The Exploit: A Theory of Networks,co-authored withAlexander R. Galloway.University of Minnesota Press, 2007.ISBN978-0816650446.
  • After Life.University of Chicago Press, 2010.ISBN978-0226793726.
  • In the Dust of This Planet(Horror of Philosophy Vol. 1). Zero Books, 2011.ISBN978-1846946769.
  • Leper Creativity: The Cyclonopedia Symposium,co-edited withEd KellerandNicola Masciandaro.Punctum Books, 2012.ISBN978-0615600468.
  • Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation,co-authored withAlexander R. GallowayandMcKenzie Wark.University of Chicago Press, 2013.ISBN978-0226925226.
  • Dark Nights of the Universe,co-authored withDaniel Colucciello Barber,Nicola Masciandaro, Alexander R. Galloway andFrançois Laruelle.[NAME] Publications, 2013.ISBN978-0984056675.
  • And They Were Two in One and One in Two,co-edited with Nicola Masciandaro. Schism Press, 2014.ISBN978-1494701239.
  • Starry Speculative Corpse(Horror of Philosophy Vol. 2). Zero Books, 2015.ISBN978-1782798910.
  • Tentacles Longer Than Night(Horror of Philosophy Vol. 3). Zero Books, 2015.ISBN978-1782798897.
  • Cosmic Pessimism,with drawings byKeith Tilford.Univocal Publishing, 2015.ISBN978-1937561475.
  • Infinite Resignation.Repeater Books, 2018.ISBN978-1912248193.
  • An Ideal for Living: An Anti-Novel(20th Anniversary Edition). Schism Press, 2020.ISBN979-8682903832.
  • Arthur Schopenhauer,On The Suffering Of The World.Edited with an Introduction by Eugene Thacker. Repeater Books, 2020.ISBN978-1913462031.
  • The Repeater Book of the Occult,co-edited withTariq Goddard.Repeater Books, 2021.ISBN978-1913462079.
  • Songs for Sad Poets,Siavash Amini & Eugene Thacker, Hallow Ground Records, 2022[45]
  • Sad Planets.Co-authored with Dominic Pettman. Polity, forthcoming 2024.

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Eugene Thacker".The New School for Social Research.Retrieved2020-03-28.
  2. ^"About".Eugene Thacker.Retrieved2022-09-17.
  3. ^url=https:// newschool.edu/nssr/faculty/eugene-thacker/
  4. ^WIRED Staff."Tweaking Genes in the Basement".Wired.ISSN1059-1028.Retrieved2024-02-17.
  5. ^The Age of Catastrophe,Books.fr/Cairn.info (October 2020) and the journalCollapse(Urbanomic Publications).
  6. ^Cosmic Pessimism(Univocal Publishing, 2014), p.3.
  7. ^"Finding Alarm and Consolation About the Apocalypse".New York Times.2018-08-01.
  8. ^"Philosopher Eugene Thacker Sighs in the Face of Everything in 'Infinite Resignation'".Into the Void Magazine.2018-07-19.
  9. ^Thacker,After Life(University of Chicago Press, 2010), p. x.
  10. ^See the essayAfter Life: De anima and Unhuman PoliticsRadical Philosophyvol. 155 (2009).
  11. ^"Darklife: Negation, Nothingness, and the Will-to-Life in Schopenhauer,"Parrhesiano. 12 (2011), p. 3.
  12. ^"Wayless Abyss: Mysticism, Mediation, & Divine Nothingness",Postmedieval#3 (2012).
  13. ^Thacker,After Life,p. x.
  14. ^In The Dust Of This Planethas been translated into several languages, including Spanish (Materia Oscura, 2015), Italian (Nero Editions 2018), Russian (Hyle Press, 2017), and German (Mathes & Seitz, 2019).
  15. ^See"Divine Darkness",Thacker's lecture at London Natural History Museum (12 January 2011).
  16. ^In The Dust Of This Planet,p. 2.
  17. ^In The Dust Of This Planet,p. 6.
  18. ^Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation,co-authored with Alexander Galloway and McKenzie Wark (University of Chicago Press, 2013), pp. 77-149.
  19. ^Tentacles Longer Than Night - Horror of Philosophy, vol. 3(Zero Books, 2015), pp. 21ff.
  20. ^See also “Nekros; or, the Poetics of Biopolitics” inZombie Theory: A Reader(University of Minnesota Press, 2017); “Necrologies: The Death of the Body Politic” inBeyond Biopolitics(Duke University Press, 2011).
  21. ^See the essays "Data Made Flesh: Biotechnology and the Discourse of the Posthuman,"Cultural Critiqueno. 53 (2003), "Biohorror/Biotech,"Paradoxano. 17 (2002).
  22. ^See the entry "Biomedia" inCritical Terms for Media Studies,eds. W.J.T. Mitchell & Mark Hansen (University of Chicago Press, 2010).
  23. ^"Networks, Swarms, Multitudes" Part 1,Part 2,CTheory(2004),"Biophilosophy for the 21st Century",CTheory(2005).
  24. ^Thacker, "Biomedia", inCritical Terms for Media Studies,p. 123.
  25. ^Thacker,The Global Genome(MIT Press, 2005), p. 267.
  26. ^Excommunication: Three Inquiries in Media and Mediation,p. 10.
  27. ^Geert Lovnik,"Hermes on the Hudson: Notes on Media Theory after Snowden",e-flux #54 (2014).
  28. ^Eugene Thacker,Into the Influx Incision: Literary Works,book design by Marie Thacker (Mercury Arts Press, 1994,ASIN B0006R1TPM).
  29. ^From the back cover blurb, published by Schism Press.
  30. ^"Schism - About".
  31. ^Ars Electronica '99Archived2017-11-16 at theWayback Machinefestival.
  32. ^SIGGRAPH 2000 Art Gallery
  33. ^Whitney Biennial 2000
  34. ^Biotech Hobbyist edition,Locus+
  35. ^Merzbox(XLTD-003).
  36. ^"Writer Nic Pizzolatto on Thomas Ligotti and the Weird Secrets of True Detective."
  37. ^"Radiolab - In The Dust Of This Planet",original broadcast Monday September 8, 2014. The story was also covered by NPR'sOn The Media.
  38. ^"In the Dust of This Planet book discussed by Glenn Beck on The Blaze TV".YouTube.2014-10-31.
  39. ^"There's always death to look forward to: Nihilist Arby's and the cheerful nihilism of the Internet",The Awl, August 2, 2017.
  40. ^"The Philosophy of Rick and Morty – Wisecrack Edition".youtube.Wisecrack.co. 19 December 2015.
  41. ^"The Flaw in Everything: Warren Ellis’ Karnak the Shatterer""
  42. ^"At the Gates: The Nightmare Of Being".Pitchfork. 8 July 2021.Retrieved14 August2021.
  43. ^"Opera on Film: Sibyl + Polia & Blastema - Sibyl + Polia & Blastema".
  44. ^Klim Kozinskiy (2019-08-20).TETRAGRAMMATON (ТЕТРАГРАММАТОН) Official (rus sub).Retrieved2024-06-05– via YouTube.
  45. ^"SIAVASH AMINI & EUGENE THACKER - Songs for Sad Poets, by Siavash Amini & Eugene Thacker".Hallow Ground.Retrieved2022-12-09.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eugene_Thacker&oldid=1237825805"