|
Eugene Thacker is an author and Professor at The New School in New York City. His writing is often associated with the philosophy of nihilism and pessimism. Thacker’s most recent books are the ''Horror of Philosophy'' series (including the book ''In The Dust Of This Planet'') and ''After Life'', and he also writes a column called "Occultural Studies." He received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Washington-Seattle, and a PhD in Comparative Literature from Rutgers University. ==Works== Thacker's most widely read book is ''In The Dust Of This Planet'', part of his ''Horror of Philosophy'' trilogy. In it, Thacker explores the idea of the "unthinkable world" as represented in the horror fiction genre, in philosophies of pessimism and nihilism, and in the apophatic ("darkness") mysticism traditions. 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 enigmatically confronts the horizon of its own possibility."〔Thacker, ''In The Dust Of This Planet - Horror of Philosophy vol. 1'', p. 2.〕 Thacker distinguishes the "world-for-us" (the human-centric view of the world), and the "world-in-itself" (the world understood via the sciences), 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." 〔Thacker, ''In The Dust Of This Planet - Horror of Philosophy vol. 1'', p. 6.〕 Thacker's major philosophical work is ''After Life''. In it, Thacker argues that the ontology of 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"〔Thacker, ''After Life'', p. x.〕 Thacker traces this theme from Aristotle, to Scholasticism and mysticism/negative theology, to Spinoza and Kant, showing how this three-fold displacement is also alive in philosophy today (life as time in process philosophy and Deleuzianism, life as form in biopolitical thought, life as spirit in post-secular philosophies of religion). Ultimately Thacker argues for a skepticism regarding "life": "Life is not only a problem ''of'' philosophy, but a problem ''for'' philosophy.〔Thacker, ''After Life'', p. x.〕 Thacker's work has often been associated with contemporary philosophies of nihilism and pessimism, as well as to speculative realism. His text "Cosmic Pessimism" defines pessimism as "the philosophical form of disenchantment."〔(Thacker, "Cosmic Pessimism" ), ''continent'' 2.2 (2012).〕 The text begins with the following line: "Pessimism is the night-side of thought, a melodrama of the futility of the brain, a poetry written in the graveyard of philosophy." In an interview with ''True Detective'' creator and writer Nic Pizzolatto, Thacker's book ''In The Dust of This Planet'' is cited as an influence on the TV series, along with Ray Brassier's ''Nihil Unbound'', Thomas Ligotti's ''The Conspiracy Against the Human Race'', Jim Crawford's ''Confessions of an Antinatalist'', and David Benatar's ''Better Never To Have Been''.〔("Writer Nic Pizzolatto on Thomas Ligotti and the Weird Secrets of True Detective." )〕 Thacker has published poetry under the moniker Rasu-Yong Tugen, with a book called ''Songs From The Black Moon''.〔published by gnOme Books, ISBN 978-0615969008〕 Thacker's poetry and fiction has appeared in anthologies such as ''Degenerative Prose'' (published by Black Ice/FC2), ''Diagram: Selections from the Magazine'' (edited by Ander Monson), and ''Debug: Primary Techno Noir'' (edited by Kenji Siratori). Thacker has produced book arts projects, and an "anti-novel" titled ''An Ideal for Living'', of which American poet and conceptual writer Kenneth Goldsmith has 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."〔From the back cover blurb, Gobbet Press re-issue, 2014.〕 With Ronald Sukenick and Mark Amerika, Thacker helped establish Alt-X Press, for which he edited the anthology ''Hard_Code''.〔An electronic version of the book is available at the (Alt-X Press ) website.〕 Thacker has also collaborated with art, media, and music collectives.〔These include Fakeshop, which has presented work at (Ars Electronica ) and the (2000 Whitney Biennial ), Biotech Hobbyist, and Merzbow. Thacker produced a CD of noise music released by (Extreme Records ) (''Sketches for Biotech Research,'' XCD-046), as well as a collabortive CD with Merzbow, part of the Merzbow Box Set released in 2000. The Box Set also includes a book titled (Merzbook ) that includes Thacker's essay "Bataille/Body/Noise."〕 Thacker has written the Forewords to the English editions of the works of E.M. Cioran, published by Arcade Press, as well as the Preface and Annotations to Clive Barker's novella ''Cabal'', published by Fiddleblack Press.〔(Cabal & Other Annotations, published by Fiddleblack )〕 In September 2014 the WNYC's Radiolab ran 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.〔("Radiolab - In The Dust Of This Planet" ), original broadcast on Monday September 8, 2014. The story was also covered by NPR's On The Media in their show (On The Media - Nihilism ), and by Glenn Beck on (The BlazeTV ).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eugene Thacker」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|