Infinite Resignation

181 Pages·2018·0.67 MB·English

by  Eugene Thacker

I R
NFINITE ESIGNATION
EUGENE THACKER
I R
NFINITE ESIGNATION
EUGENE THACKER
Contents
ON PESSIMISM
THE PATRON SAINTS OF PESSIMISM
A Sort of Preface. By definition, there can be no hope for a book like this – its
very existence is dubious. If all is for naught, then why bother writing it down?
Caught in a vicious circle, ensnared in the logical absurdities of awkward self-
awareness.
It seems there are one of two options: either speak to this situation, or remain
silent. The writer’s failure is that they know they should choose the latter, but
cannot help attempting the former. Writers (and readers… when there are
readers…) console themselves by naming this failure: an apology, a confession,
a testimony, a treatise, a history, a biography, a life. But the continual
accumulation of that-which-cannot-be-putinto-words always points back to this
one basic realization – that, when it comes to human beings, silence is the most
adequate form of expression.
There are, then, two paths. Ultimately writers dream of taking neither path,
leaving all paths for the forest. But it’s just a dream.
ON PESSIMISM
*
A philosophy exists between the axiom and the sigh. Pessimism is the wavering,
the hovering.
*
Whenever it occurs, however it occurs, pessimism has but one effect: it
introduces humility into thought. It undermines the innumerable, self-
aggrandizing postures that constitute the human being. Pessimism is the humility
of the species that has named itself, thought furtively stumbling upon its own
limitations on black wings of futility. (And is this helpful…?)
*
Pessimism is the night-side of thought, a melodrama of the futility of the brain, a
lyricism written in the graveyard of philosophy. No one ever needs pessimism,
in the way that one needs optimism, for instance, to inspire one to great heights
and pick oneself up, in the way one needs constructive criticism, advice and
feedback, inspirational books or just a pat on the back (though I like to imagine
the idea of pessimism as selfhelp). Pessimism is a philosophically untenable
position. No self-respecting philosopher would ever describe themselves as a
pessimist – it’s more of an indictment than a philosophy. Yet, without exception,
everyone has, at some point in their lives, had to confront pessimism, if not as a
philosophy then as a grievance – against one’s self or against others, against
one’s life or one’s circumstances, against the state of affairs or against the world
in general.
The closest pessimism comes to philosophical argument is the droll and
sardonic, “We’ll never make it,” or simply: “We’re doomed.” Every effort
doomed to failure, every project doomed to incompletion, every thought doomed
to be unthought, every life doomed to be unlived.
*
When solutions produce problems, when thought flounders in the absence of
order, unity, and purpose, when healthy skepticism turns into pathological
sarcasm – this is usually when pessimism enters the fray. The problem is that
when pessimism enters philosophical discussion, it is almost never helpful. In
fact, it makes things worse. However, in its unending miserere, sometimes
something interesting happens: it raises the stakes of the discussion, scaling
things up beyond the self-interested level of human beings living in a human
world, beyond our wants and desires, beyond our individual or collective self-
importance. Besides, we didn’t really think we could figure it out, did we? A
strange philosophy, then – the most adequate, the least helpful.
*
Is there any philosophy that is not, in some way, built up upon disenchantment –
and that does not, ultimately, crumble beneath its weight? Disenchantment as
chanting, as a chant, a mantra, a solitary, monophonic voice rendered
insignificant by the intimate immensity surrounding it.
*
No one has time for pessimism. After all, there are only so many hours in the
day. Whatever our temperament, happy or sad, engaged or disengaged, we know
pessimism when we hear it. The pessimist is usually understood to be the
complainer, forever pointing out what is wrong with the world without ever
offering a solution. But more often than not pessimists are the most subdued of
philosophers, submerging their sighs within the lethargy of discontent. What
little sound they make is of interest to no one – “I’ve heard it all before,” “tell
me something I don’t know,” sound and fury, signifying nothing.
*
Things should be good, I tell myself, but they’re, well, not-so-good. Nothing
seems to make sense – and it should (shouldn’t it?). Granted, things weren’t
exactly perfect before, but now they’re definitely worse (…or so it seems). And
this on top of the simplest of things: having to live a life.
*
In presenting problems without solutions, in posing questions without answers,
in retreating to the hermetic, cavernous abode of complaint, pessimism is guilty
of that most inexcusable of Occidental crimes – the crime of not pretending it’s
all for a reason. Pessimism fails to live up to the most basic tenet of philosophy –
the “as if.” Think as if it will be helpful, act as if it will make a difference, speak
as if there is something to say, live as if you are not, in fact, being lived by some
murmuring non-entity both shadowy and muddied.
*
The luminous point at which logic becomes contemplation. Lost in thought.
Adrift in deep space. Dreamless sleep.
*
Pessimism has a dubious status, both in everyday life and in the history of
philosophy. Usually, pessimism is thought of as opposed to optimism – a
negative to a positive, the worst versus the best, the glass halfempty or the glass
half-full. In this understanding, the scales of optimism and pessimism are forever
tipping back and forth, according to our attitudes, our circumstances, our
fortunes and misfortunes. Look in any Dictionary of Philosophy and you will
likely find a definition of pessimism, and, in addition to mentioning the
nineteenth-century philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, it will probably provide
one of three definitions: “The view that this is the worst of all possible worlds,”
or “The view that life is not worth living,” or even “The view that non-existence
is preferable to existence” (usually with the addendum “See also: optimism”).
But for me, the definition that best captures pessimism is given by the joke “I see
the glass half full, but of poison.”
*
Pessimism tries very hard to present itself in the low, sustained tones of a
Requiem Mass, or the tectonic rumbling of a Tibetan chant. But more frequently
it lets loose dissonant notes at once plaintive and pathetic. Often, its voice
cracks, its weighty words abruptly reduced to mere shards of guttural sound.
*
If we know pessimism when we hear it, this is because we’ve heard it all before
– and we didn’t need to hear it in the first place. Life is hard enough. What you
need is a change of attitude, a new outlook, a shift in perspective… a cup of
coffee.
If we have no tolerance for pessimism, this is because it sees everything as
brimming with negative possibility, the collision of a bad mood with an
impassive world. If pessimism is so often dismissed, this is because it is often
impossible to separate a “bad mood” from a philosophical proposition (and do
not all philosophies stem from a bad mood?).
*
*
A Very Very Short History of Philosophy. I’ve always felt that there are basically
two kinds of philosophies: those that begin in wonder and those that begin in
despair. The philosophies of wonder marvel at the world; they are drawn to its
shimmering presence, and are driven by curiosity, which euphorically leans
towards knowledge. By contrast, the philosophies of despair recoil from the
world; they are at once perplexed by and weary of its ephemeral and fragile
contours. They are driven by a doubt that gives way to a still greater doubt, until
almost nothing is left. The philosophies of wonder embrace the world; the
philosophies of despair are suspicious of it.
It would be tempting to describe philosophies of wonder as “optimistic” and
philosophies of despair as “pessimistic”, were it not for the enthusiasm of the
latter.
*
The very term “pessimism” suggests a school of thought, a movement, even a
community. But pessimism always has a membership of one – maybe two (one
of them imaginary). Ideally, of course, it would have a membership of none,
with only a scribbled, illegible note left behind in some long-forgotten forest.
*
There are so many things that are possible, and so few things that are necessary.
Sadly, the latter rarely overlap with the former.
*
People often presume that the saying “hope for the best and expect the worst” is
pessimistic, but it’s not. It’s simply optimism through the back door. The best
you can hope for is the worst.
*
Anatomy of Pessimism. Pessimism’s two major keys are moral and metaphysical
pessimism, its subjective and objective poles, an attitude towards the world and a
claim about the world. For the moral pessimist, it is better not to have been born
at all; for the metaphysical pessimist this is the worst of all possible worlds. For
moral pessimism, the problem is the solipsism of human beings, the world made