Nihil Unbound

Where much contemporary philosophy seeks to stave off the “threat” of nihilism by safeguarding the experience of meaning–characterized as the defining feature of human existence–from the Enlightenment logic of disenchantment, this book attempts to push nihilism to its ultimate conclusion by forging a link between revisionary naturalism in Anglo-American philosophy and anti-phenomenological realism in recent French philosophy. Contrary to an emerging “post-analytic” consensus which would bridge the analytic-continental divide by uniting Heidegger and Wittgenstein against the twin perils of scientism and skepticism, this book short-circuits both traditions by plugging eliminative materialism directly into speculative realism.

RAY BRASSIER is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Research for Modern European Philosophy, Middlesex University, London, UK.

Introduction * PART I: DESTROYING THE MANIFEST IMAGE * Eliminative Materialism and Scientific Realism * Being No-One * The Thanatosis of Enlightenment * The Enigma of Realism * PART II: THE ANATOMY OF NEGATION * The Anti-Phenomenon * Being-Nothing * PART III: THE END OF TIME * The Pure and Empty Form of Death * Solar Catastrophe * Conclusion